Jeremy Kanter, European marketing director, beers and ciders, at Diageo, has left the company after 15 years to explore other opportunities. Kanter, who started his career at Unilever and had stints as a business director at Bartle Bogle Hegarty and a marketer at The Times, joined Diageo in 2004 as global communications director for Baileys. He became Baileys GB brand director three years later.
Pete Robins and Rhys Williams, two of the co-founders of digital agency Agenda21, have joined the7stars, where they will head a newly created technology and activation hub. Robins and Williams set up Agenda21 in 2005, before selling it to Be Heard Group in 2015 and staying with the company until this year. Meanwhile, the7stars is hiring Monique Slater, who also joins from Agenda 21, and Mark Beckford, previously of Wavemaker, to join the tech hub.
Leo Burnett London has bolstered its management team with the appointment of Carly Avener as managing director. Avener has spent 13 years, the majority of her career, at Bartle Bogle Hegarty London. At Leo Burnett, she will report to chief executive Charlie Rudd and work alongside chief creative officer Chaka Sobhani and chief strategy officer Josh Bullmore. Avener will be responsible for the day-to-day running of the agency.
AnalogFolk has opened its seventh office and first on the European continent, with the new operation to be headed by former MediaMonks managing director Kris Smith. Smith, who was MediaMonks' European managing director until last year, has been setting up the offshoot since the start of 2019. AnalogFolk Amsterdam opened on 10 October, with Smith as managing director.
Grey London has promoted Rob Sellers to the post of chief growth officer. Sellers, who was managing director of GreyBase, the agency's shopper and experiential arm, will join the agency's executive team and report to chief executive Anna Panczyk.
Dentsu Aegis Network has appointed Amy Watt, its business strategy partner, as chief strategy officer of the newly launched UK office of Dentsu X. Reporting to chief executive Patrick Affleck, she will oversee the agency's strategy, working on clients including Jaguar Land Rover, Square and Upfield. Her remit includes developing new products and services. It is a newly created role.
Mindshare has hired Oscar Romero for a new role leading the Group M agency's performance capabilities across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Romero has spent the past nine years as managing partner at Publicis Groupe's Performics, where he led international accounts in the performance media space.
Hostelworld has recruited Asos marketing chief Yale Varty as chief marketing officer. Varty fills a role previously held by Kristof Fahy, who left in October 2018 before ending up at Moonpig last month, via Checkatrade.
Ogilvy UK has grown its ecommerce team with the appointment of Larisa Dumitru as ecommerce lead. She will report to Jai Kotecha, the agency's head of social and content. Dumitru was previously at Omnicom Media Group, where she was most recently regional ecommerce director.
Influencer has added to its senior global management team with the hire of Jane Loring as chief operations officer. Working with chief executive Ben Jeffries, she will help drive the influencer marketing platform's global expansion plans, which have been ramped up following a £3m investment from Puma Private Equity. Loring was previously at Mode Media, where she was general manager, Europe. She was also director of strategy and sales at Microsoft UK.
Publicis.Poke has bolstered its team with a series of hires and promotions. It appointed Alexandra Mimoun from Publicis Conseil Paris as head of integrated planning, and created three group programme director positions. They will be filled by Sonia Figone, who was at Poke for three years previously, and new hires Justene Miller and Maria McDowell, who join from The Future Laboratory and TheTin respectively.
The founders of search agency Branded3 have reunited with former colleagues to lead a new digital performance agency called Connective3. Vin Chinnaraja and Patrick Altoft, who sold Branded3 to Kin & Carta in 2013, take on the positions of chairman and chief marketing officer respectively. The duo have hired Tim Grice as chief executive, David White as director of content marketing, Alan Ng as technical and insights director and John James Grice as organic performance director.
Social & Local has handed the position of business director, external communications, to former Kindred client service director Jessica Duncanson. She will work with Social & Local founders Stephanie Drakes and Natalie Richards. Duncanson has been working with the agency since February on a freelance basis.
In-game ad platform Bidstack has appointed Nina Mackie as senior director of global agency partnerships and Charlotte Cook as account director of games. Mackie was previously at travel performance marketing specialist Sojern, where she was sales director, while Cook was head of commercial at gaming platform Genba Digital.
Creative agency Cult has hired Charlotte Bunyan as its first head of strategy. Previously holding the same title at Collider, and a former vice-president and strategy director at Jack Morton Worldwide, Bunyan will work alongside Cult's chief strategic officer, Bridey Lipscombe.
Headhunting company Grace Blue Partnership has appointed David Nobbs as partner and head of consumer, helping the business fill senior roles at consumer brands. Nobbs was most recently managing partner at Fortune Hill. He will report to Grace Blue founder Juliet Timms.
Brand design agency Bulletproof has hired Hall & Partners chief executive of Europe Gaby Bell as London managing director. Bell, who has worked at numerous agencies including J Walter Thompson and M&C Saatchi (as chief strategy officer), will report to founder Gush Mundae.
Former golf professional Neil Docking has joined sport and tourism agency Azalea in the new position of head of partnerships. Docking, who will report to Azalea managing director Sean Noble, was most recently chief executive of Global Exclusives, and before that held posts including business development, Africa, India and Middle East, at Ten Group.
.jpg)
.jpg)