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FCB appoints new digital CD: FCB New Zealand has appointed Matt Barnes as a digital creative director – joining current digital CD Greg Wood to lead the agency’s team of digital producers and designers from April 8.

Barnes arrives at FCB with extensive experience in digital design and physical interactive projects in New Zealand, Australia and London.

Asia Pacific Executive Creative Director at FCB, James Mok, says Barnes is a perfect complement to FCB New Zealand’s existing digital team. “Matt has the digital expertise and creativity to evolve our digital offering, as client needs for omni-platform thinking grow,” Mok said.

Barnes will be joining established digital CD Greg Wood, forming a partnership Mok believes will benefit the entire agency. “Matt and Greg – who comes from a strong copywriting and technical background – should make an excellent team,” he said.

Barnes says he is looking forward to joining FCB and sharing his experience with the agency. “FCB’s attitude towards change, combined with the company’s integrated model, makes the agency ideally positioned to continue driving communications in the digital age,” he said.

“Today the only constant is change and I’m really looking forward to helping FCB negotiate the fast paced, always-on nature of digital marketing with smart ideas and new technologies.”

The need to seek talent with digital creative abilities beyond what already exists in the agency is vital according to Mok. “FCB NZ has already been very successful with digitally led campaigns such as Mitre 10 Easy As and MINI/SPCA Driving Dogs, but we understand the need to continually embrace new possibilities.”

Barnes began his career in Wellington, co-founding Boygirlboy (precursor to Resn) before moving to the UK for eight years, where he worked on Nike, Nokia, Sky, the BBC and Tate Modern.

Barnes then spent two years in Sydney at Host and BMF, before making the voyage home, firstly working at Shine on projects such as the Beck’s Edison Bottle and Hyundai’s Family Time Project, and more recently as digital CD at Touchcast where he led the digital creative on Spark’s Boroughs Project.

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ApolloNation promotes GAD: Auckland brand activations & shopper marketing agency ApolloNation has promoted Jason Kennedy to the position of group account director, overseeing the account service teams across all clients.

Kennedy has rich marketing experience with expertise across the activations, experiential, shopper and trade marketing disciplines, honed over 15 years of creating strategic solutions for some of New Zealand’s best-loved brands.

Kennedy has expertise across the activations, experiential, shopper and trade marketing disciplines, honed over 15 years of creating strategic solutions for some of New Zealand’s best-loved brands. His experience, particularly within the FMCG sector, ranges from relationship management, project execution, business generation and leadership and has made Kennedy an integral member of ApolloNation since he joined the agency in 2012.

He has been a key driver for a number of the agency’s most successful campaigns including Tui Catch-A-Million – a campaign which is in market for the second consecutive year after having secured a Cannes Gold Lion.

“Over the last three years, Jason has consistently proven his ability to execute memorable and meaningful campaigns from initial ideation, through to strategy, execution and measurement,” said Bríd Drohan-Stewart, general manager of activations for Dentsu Aegis Network, New Zealand.

“ He has become an invaluable member of our tribe; always demonstrating the values of our organisation in everything he does with enthusiasm, energy and bravery.”

Kennedy said: “It’s a very exciting time to be stepping up into a senior leadership role at ApolloNation – I’m backed by a fantastic team and we’ve already got some ground-breaking projects underway for 2015 which will see our agency experience another incredible year.”

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Viacom hires ex TVNZ sales chief: Vanessa Winley has been named the Director of Advertising Sales & Commercial Partnerships for Sydney-based Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) Australia and New Zealand.

, it was announced today by Ben Richardson, Sr. Vice President and General Manager, VIMN Australia and New Zealand.

In this role, Winley will be responsible for overall sales performance across MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr. and Comedy Central branded platforms, working closely with MCN in Australia and SKY TV in New Zealand. She will also work with VIMN International on pan-regional and global deals across linear and digital platforms and events.

She joins VIMN after over three years as group sales manager at Network Ten, where she successfully created key sponsorship campaigns around properties such as Masterchef, The Bachelor, KFC Big Bash Cricket, and the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games. Prior to joining Ten, she held a sales management role at TVNZ.

“Vanessa’s track record in advertising sales and commercial partnerships makes her very well suited to lead VIMN’s ad sales growth in Australia and New Zealand,” said Viacom’s Sydney-based ANZ vice president.

Winley will be based at VIMN’s Australian headquarters in East Sydney.


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