AUCKLAND, Today: Independent agency Thrive PR + Communications has grown its team with the appointment of Victoria Fruean as group account director and Natasha D’Souza as senior account manager.
Fruean will join Thrive Sydney, managing a portfolio of Australasian clients and playing a role with ANZ Group.
This announcement solves the question of Fruean’s cryptic last message about making a new home in Sydney (scroll down for that link).
She was most recently PR & marketing manager at media agency PHD. With more than 10 years experience in communications, she has held senior roles with Spark (now Drum) and Mango, and has worked across many sectors including telco, FMCG, automotive, food and beverage and sport, and on brands including Spark NZ, Mercedes-Benz, 2degrees, DB Breweries, Unilever and the ASB Tennis Classic.
D’Souza joins Thrive Auckland as the New Zealand office continues to strengthen its local service offering. She most recently worked at Y&R (now VMLY&R) on Campari, Goodman Fielder, Jaguar and Edgewell. Prior to Y&R, She spent three years with Mango.
Thrive was founded in Melbourne in 2000 by Wellington-born Leilani Abels. It now operates across New Zealand and Australia with offices in Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast, as well as a specialised team working into the wider APAC region.
Leilani Abels said: “New Zealand is a key focus for our agency and our operations here play a big role for us in the region. Thrive Auckland is growing because we offer both B2B and B2C corporate and consumer comms and there are three key ways we work with clients …
“Thrive was founded in Melbourne in 2000 by Wellingtonian Leilani Abels. It now operates in Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast.”
“Firstly, we have a team who intimately know the local market and are servicing Kiwi businesses focused on their growth nationally.
“We are also helping Kiwi-based brands who use our Auckland operations as a gateway to launch and grow in Australia and throughout the APAC region.
Thirdly, we are servicing Australasian clients, like Cisco, who want to use the one agency for their comms across New Zealand and Australia.
“I’m delighted to welcome both Victoria and Natasha to our business. Victoria will be based in Sydney, yet we work as “one team” across all our offices so no doubt her local NZ experience will help our agency’s growth here. And Natasha is indicative of what we look for in a high-performance Thriver – smart, hard working, with a positive attitude and an understanding of how to create great stories and content for clients.”
Thrive’s New Zealand client portfolio includes Lion, Spotlight, Cisco, Flamingo and Twitter.
Natasha D’Souza said: “I’m thrilled to be joining Thrive Auckland and working with a five-office team who truly collaborate, with distance no object. Thrive is renowned in the Australian market and I’ve been watching them steadily build a presence in NZ over the past couple of years.”
Victoria Fruean said: “Thrive is an exciting step in my career as I take the leap across to Sydney, getting the chance to work on some incredible clients and with some amazing people within the agency. I look forward to maintaining my links to NZ, whilst gaining experience in a new market.”
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