Nick Zonnios has joined Icon Agency as director of consumer to lead the agency‘s newly launched consumer practise, Mediaweek can reveal, departing from his previous position as head of PR at CHEP Network.
Zonnios began at Icon this week, alongside Georgina Rees, who has been appointed as director of brand and campaigns within Icon’s communications department.
Speaking to Mediaweek, Zonnios said: “I was at Clemenger Group (BBDO and CHEP) for seven years, and it was great. I worked with some amazingly talented and creative people who supported me in developing my own creative taste and opinion. And I learnt more than I could have imagined about creativity and importantly, how the disciplines of PR and creativity can benefit from a greater understanding and appreciation of each other.
“But after seven years, I wanted to see if I could take everything that I’d learnt and apply it in a different environment, and to learn something new myself. Icon felt like a great agency that knew where it was going and had created an environment that was ripe for creating great work, so I’m looking forward to playing a part in the agency’s ongoing success.”
Zonnios was promoted to head of PR at CHEP in May 2022, a position which saw him grow and develop the agency’s PR on a national scale. Before this, he served as general manager at Clemenger BBDO, establishing and leading its PR team for five years.
Throughout his career, Zonnios has worked across a number of high profile clients including ANZ, Barbie, Carlton & United Breweries, Doritos, Flybuys, Officeworks, Origin Energy, and Telstra.
Zonnios said that when the Icon team got in touch “to build the best consumer PR practice in the country, it was too good to pass up.”
“Brands are facing an ever more complex and competitive landscape when marketing to consumers. It takes sharp strategy, brilliant creativity and flawless execution to drive tangible impact for clients, and it was abundantly clear that Icon had built its agency on those principles.”
CHEP declined to comment on Zonnios’ departure and any plans to replace him.
Rees, meanwhile, moves to Icon from Mahlab, where she was marketing director, leading integrated clients and teams at agencies in London and Sydney.
Commenting on her appointment, Rees said that Icon “goes far beyond integration by taking an interdisciplinary approach which delivers exceptional work and massive value to clients.”
“Helping lead this offer is an incredibly exciting opportunity, and I can’t wait to get stuck in,” she said.
Icon’s executive director of communications, David Radestock, said the additions of Zonnios and Rees “reflect our limitless ambition, rapid growth trajectory, and unique offer to the market.”
“Nick and Georgina easily meet the criteria to join the Icon team, which is to be both wonderfully talented and wonderful people. They will transform our offer by delivering world-class, interdisciplinary consumer work, and I’m delighted to be working with them,” he said.
In the past year, Icon’s communications department has more than doubled in size. The agency also won Meta’s account, and developed new programs with the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
See also: CHEP Network appoints Nick Zonnios as director of PR
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Top Image: Georgina Rees and Nick Zonnios