MacKenzie will become head of creative and joins the agency at the same time as Faye Rogers, who arrives from the V&A where she was design manager. She will take the role of commercial manager to support the agency's financial director Graham Juber.
Barbato, who joined the agency when it bought his company The Field earlier this year, becomes joint managing director alongside Communique 360 founder Tim Petherbridge. He was previously strategy and development director.
Clients at the Richmond-based agency include Premier Travel Inn, Lexus, Virgin and Johnnie Walker. After two years of organic growth, the agency is now looking for further acquisitions to develop and strengthen its capabilities.
According to Petherbridge: "I am currently looking at two possibilities for acquisition in the new-media field and hope that we will be announcing our next move some time in the new year. The talents of the new team will be essential in bedding down any company that we take on board."
Communique 360 acquired The Field in April this year as part of its aggressive growth strategy. At the time, Petherbridge said that as well as acquiring a new-media company, the agency is also looking to pick up a data management and response analysis business by the end of the year.
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