Mediaweek’s Media Movers charts the biggest people moves in the industry over the past week.
Liz Hayes
Veteran journalist Liz Hayes is heading back to television, just months after announcing she was departing Nine following a 44 year career at the network.
Hayes has now jumped ship over to rival network Seven, and will be a guest correspondent for Spotlight, the Seven’s flagship current affairs program.
Hayes will front a long-form interview with Lauren Zonfrillo, the widow of MasterChef Australia judge Jock Zonfrillo.
It will mark Lauren’s first public conversation since her husband’s death in a Melbourne hotel room in May 2023. The exclusive is expected to air on Spotlight in the coming weeks.
McDonald’s Australia has announced a senior marketing shake-up, with Chris Brown set to depart his role as chief marketing officer after four and a half years with the business. Brown will leave the Golden Arches in May to pursue new opportunities.
Stepping into the role is Annabel Fribence, who returns to McDonald’s Australia to lead the brand’s marketing function.
“It’s been one hell of a ride,” said Brown. “We’ve achieved significant success and launched new platforms and capabilities. The plan is strong, the future is bright, and it’s the right time for me to move on to the next challenge.”
Magda Triantafyllidis and Philip Hwang
Leo Australia has appointed Magda Triantafyllidis as chief client partner and Philip Hwang as transformation director, strengthening the agency’s commitment to client transformation and the strategic growth of the business.
Triantafyllidis joins as chief client partner for financial services client ANZ, bringing over 20+ years of experience in client leadership and strategic campaign and brand
Hwang has been appointed to the newly created role of transformation director and will lead initiatives that drive growth and innovation for Leo Australia’s clients, including the consolidated Suncorp Group portfolio.
Emotive has appointed Jessica Cluff into the newly created role of head of earned creative, commencing 28 April.
Cluff, who joins from independent creative agency POEM, will collaborate closely with the leads of Emotive’s fame-driving specialisms, spanning social, talent, PR, partnerships, and brand experience.
Cluff’s past work includes the Uber campaign featuring Formula One driver Valtteri Bottas, which delivered 30+ million organic views with zero media spend.
She will work alongside group creative director Darren Wright and the strategy and creative teams, embedding earned thinking at every stage of the process.
Peter Defries, Celia Garforth, Lauren Portelli, Alan Wilson
Special has cemented its Uber APAC leadership team with the appointments of Peter Defries and Alan Wilson.
Defries and Wilson have been a creative partnership for 14 years and returned to Australia after almost a decade in New York. They will step into the position of regional group creative directors on Uber and Uber Eats,
The creative duo worked as executive creative directors at BBH NY, leading the J.M. Smucker Company business, which hosts some of America’s most iconic FMCG brands, including Jif, Smucker’s, Twinkies, Dunkin, Milk-Bone, and Meow Mix, plus major U.S. accounts like Walmart and Cadillac.
Medium Rare Content Agency has appointed Jodie Bradley to the newly created role of senior agency director, a move designed to deepen the agency’s partnerships with media buyers and bolster its retail and owned media offering.
Bradley will spearhead strategy and innovation across Medium Rare’s client portfolio, which includes CommBank Connect, David Jones Amplify, and Qantas Travel Insider.
Tim O’Connor has been promoted Vevo head of sales for the Asia-Pacific region. He shared the news in a LinkedIn post which garnered plenty of positive reaction from the industry.
O’Connor has been with the music video network for the past five years as head of Australia and New Zealand. Prior to joining Vevo, he was with advertising services provider dataux, which has since been acquired by Roku, as senior sales manager ANZ. He was also at Shazam and News Corp Australia.
Jay Savage, Helen Sullivan, Chris Graham, Victoria Bourne
BBC News has unveiled the digital team leading its newly launched Sydney bureau.
The team is made up of experienced digital journalists who will take responsibility for the BBC News site during Australia daytime hours. This change will enhance global breaking news content for UK BBC News online audiences as they start their day, bolster 24-hour news coverage for all audiences globally, and increase BBC News’ editorial presence in Australia.
Leading the new team is Jay Savage as news editor. He was previously digital editor for almost 10 years with BBC News.
Savage’s team will consist of three senior journalists; Chris Graham who has previously worked with UK news outlets The Independent, The Times and The Daily Telegraph, Helen Sullivan who joins from her previous role as reporter and liveblogger with The Guardian, and Victoria Bourne who joins from her previous role as reporter with the ABC.
The team will be rounded out with three journalists; James Chater who joins from his previous role as correspondent with DW in Taipei, Yang Tian who joins from her previous role as news producer with The Guardian and Ottilie Mitchell who joins from the BBC News US digital team.
The Australian Radio Network (ARN) has named Jenni Lees as director of Integrate by ARN, the network’s newly launched creative solutions unit.
The team brings together experts in strategy, content, experience and creativity to deliver integrated campaigns across ARN’s Audiosphere, building long-term brand partnerships that aim to make brands famous.