The winners in all 11 categories of the 14th Effective Mobile Marketing Awards were revealed at an Online Awards Ceremony this afternoon. Brands and organisations honoured for their work included Unilever, B&Q, Vodafone Turkey, Fitness AI, Spur and PlugSports. Agencies and tech firms collecting awards for their work included Replug, Yodel Mobile, Moloco, Adjust, Zappar and Moburst.

The Grand Prix Award went to Fitness AI and Replug for an innovative and all-embracing user acquisition campaign. This campaign also took the individual category award for the Most Effective App Install Campaign.

Yodel Mobile picked up two awards for its work with DIY and household retailer, B&Q, for the Most Effective App Store Optimisation Campaign and the Most Effective Use of Data.

For more on the winning entries, head to the Awards Site. Congratulations to all our winners. The full list is below:

Grand Prix
Fitness AI and Replug – Scaling User Acquisition with a Holistic Approach

Most Effective App Advertising Platform
Moloco – Moloco Cloud DSP

Most Effective App Analytics Platform
Adjust – Adjust Suite

Most Effective App Install Campaign
Fitness AI and Replug – Scaling User Acquisition with a Holistic Approach

Most Effective Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality Campaign
Countdown and Zappar – Countdown Bricks Farm

Most Effective App Store Optimisation Campaign
B&Q and Yodel Mobile – Leveraging Unconventional ASO Techniques to Drive B&Q Business Success

Most Effective Location Campaign
Vodafone Turkey and Carat – Geotargeting Tailored for Sales Channel Convenience

Most Effective Small Budget Campaign
Hailr – Spur Spiderman: Across The Spiderverse Campaign

Most Effective Use of Data
B&Q and Yodel Mobile – A Data-driven Approach to Driving B&Q Incremental Revenue

Most Effective User Acquisition Platform
Redbox Mobile – Astra by Redbox Mobile: A Revolution in Apple Search Ads UA

Most Effective Influencer Marketing Campaign
PlugSports and Moburst – An Influencer Marketing Slam Dunk!

Most Effective Mobile Advertising Campaign
Unilever, InMobi and PhD – Closeup Voice

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Global technology company Meta has appointed Dentsu as the first global agency network solution provider for WhatsApp Business.

The partnership which is initially launching in the UK aims to respond to the evolving ways in which consumers interact with brands, enabling businesses to offer more personalised services.

As part of the agency’s partnership with Whatsapp, it has built a proprietary web platform for customers to manage all access with their account, providing an end-to-end managed service from creation to analysis and optimisation.

Dentsu UK and Ireland CEO, Angela Tangas said: “Customer-brand communications are in the moment and increasingly conversational. It needs to be easy and brands that embrace conversational experiences will be well-positioned to thrive.

“Our relationship with Meta is focused on helping brands achieve deeper engagement and value with their current and prospective customers, a critical enabler for growth.”

She added: “Launching a WhatsApp conversational solution, builds on our commitment to creating seamless E2E experiences. This enables brands to establish stronger, more relevant, one-on-one connections with customers, fostering trust and enhancing service experiences in the process.”

The tech giant also revealed that the partnership harnesses new advancements in AI and experience to co-develop first-to-market products and solutions in media and brand activation via Meta’s portfolio of apps.

Meta VP of Northern Europe, Middle East and Africa, Derya Matras continued: “For people and businesses across the world, WhatsApp is a great place to get business done.

“We’re looking forward to seeing how Dentsu brings the power of messaging to its customers around the world so they can accomplish more right within a chat.”

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It includes nine Mobile & App Masterclasses, starting in Barcelona on 27 Feb, with other events taking place in London, New York, Amsterdam and Berlin. Each event runs for half a day and gives mobile & app marketers the opportunity to discuss the market and their current challenges with their peers and expert agencies and tech companies.

New for 2024 are Mobile & App Leaders’ Dinners, with the first one taking place in London on 30 Jan.

Recent attendees at Future of Mobile Festival events include Asos, Depop, Monzo, Just Eat, Vodafone, Gymshark, Sainsbury’s, Ralph Lauren, Vinted, Zalando, Babbel, Delivery Hero, HSBC, John Lewis, Travelopia, Expedia, Skyscanner, BT Group, Pepsi Co, Microsoft, Uber, American Express and more!

There’s more information here.

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The tool has been created as part of the wider RNIB #BeforeYouAsk campaign, which aims to address the many misconceptions about sight loss, by educating the public through relatable scenarios to encourage them to change their attitudes and behaviours towards people with sight loss. It has been developed in partnership with Wavemaker UK and Voxly Digital.

A series of #BeforeYouAsk films use everyday relatable experiences – in the workplace; romantic relationships; applying make-up; watching football; travelling on the night bus; and unavoidable school message groups, to banish myths around what it’s really like to live with sight loss.

Hosted on the RNIB website, the #BeforeYouAsk interactive video chat tool is designed to address the weird, awkward, and at times hurtful questions that blind and partially-sighted people are frequently asked by sighted people about their day-to-day lives. It features over 40 questions and misconceptions sourced from people with sight loss, Ask the Public, Reddit, and a Google predictive search form. The answers are provided in video form by the campaign’s blind and visually-impaired cast.

“RNIB’s #BeforeYouAsk campaign uses humour and familiar scenarios to make people think,” said Martin Wingfield, Director of Brand, at RNIB. “The campaign also underscores a serious point about the misconceptions people face and the barriers these lead to in terms of people living independently. By partnering with Wavemaker and Voxly Digital, as well as with our cast of visually-impaired actors, we’re providing a reference point, where sighted people can go to find out more about visual impairment. We hope our first interactive video chat experience, alongside the six campaign films, will go a long way to increasing understanding of what it’s like to live with sight loss and to reduce the misguided everyday questions that many blind and partially-sighted people face.”

Following the campaign, it will live on as part of RNIB’s educational toolkit here.

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Aampe

Aampe’s tech turns an apps marketing messaging into a personalized experience through agentic AI that tracks and adapts to each users individual responses, clicks, and subsequent actions in response to each message they receive. Marketers can then collect the insights gained about users within a simple dashboard to understand individual user preferences, behaviors, and motivations. It automates content creation, experimental design, and conversion tracking, to boost user engagement and conversion rates, while reducing the time and effort required to manage traditional rules-based systems.

“AI dramatically alters how we build software, making the older rules engine generation of software increasingly obsolete,” said Aampe Co-founder and CEO, Paul Meinshausen. “Marketers have been forced to define rigid paths for their users that ignore their individuality and diversity. Generic segmentation leads to frustration, reduced engagement, and slower growth. Aampe has created a way for CRM AI agents to iteratively learn user preferences and then adapt and respond to those preferences optimally, unlocking the benefits that better customer experience provides.”

With its latest funding, Aampe has now raised a total of $9.3m since its founding in 2020. It currently serves over 50m users each month. Customers include IntelyCare, PayU, Swiggy, and Zalora.

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Most Effective App Advertising Platform
Applovin – AppLovins CTV for AppDiscovery
Bidease: Transparent Mobile DSAP – Using Predictive Algorithms and ML to Grow Daily Installs X10: Bidease DSP & Messenger Home/Email Home
Gamelight – Leveraging Data to Fuel AI Algorithms
Mistplay – Mistplay Enhances its Loyalty Platform to Drive +23% Install Volume, +37% D7 Retention, and +31% D7 ROAS for Mobile Gaming Advertisers
Moloco – Moloco Cloud DSP

Most Effective App Analytics Platform
Adjust – Adjust Suite
Swaarm – Explorer

Most Effective App Install Campaign
B&Q and Yodel Mobile – Driving App Store Visibility and Incremental Revenue for B&Q with Agile App Install Campaign
Driving Test Success and ConsultMyApp – Maximizing Budget Potential for Driving Test Success
Fitness AI and Replug – Scaling User Acquisition with a Holistic Approach
Home Fitness for Weight Loss and AdQuantum – x40 subscriptions in 6 months with SKAN and web-to-app campaigns
Marvel and Petrol Advertising – Marvel SNAP Launch
Vodafone Turkey and VMLY&R – Her ?ey Yan?mda Drop The Link!

Most Effective Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality Campaign
Countdown and Zappar – Countdown Bricks Farm
Unilever Lynx/Axe A.I. and Zappar – Lynx/Axe A.I. Launch Campaign
Vodafone Turkey and VMLY&R – Metaverse Shop
Vodafone Turkey and VMLY&R – Childrens Day with 5G

Most Effective App Store Optimisation Campaign
Angkas and M&C Saatchi Performance – Improving Google Play Store ranking for Angkas
B&Q and Yodel Mobile – Leveraging Unconventional ASO Techniques to Drive B&Q Business Success
Busuu and ConsultMyApp – App Visibility Unleashed: A Novel ASO Campaign for Busuu
Co-op and Apadmi – Driving Member Acquisition Through ASO
Product Madness and The71 – Optimising ASO at Product Madness
Upside and Moburst – The Cash-back Chronicles!

Most Effective Influencer Marketing Campaign
PlugSports and Moburst – An Influencer Marketing Slam Dunk!
Vodafone Turkey and VMLY&R – #RidiculouslyGreat Gaming w/ Enis Kirazoglu
Vodafone Turkey and VMLY&R – Your Money is Valuable at Vodafone

Most Effective Location Campaign
Jet2, Mobsta and Wavemaker Manchester – Jet2 Airport Proximity
Simpli.fi – HVAC Distributor Reaches Niche Audience With Location-based Targeting From Simpli.fi
Vodafone Turkey and Carat – Geotargeting Tailored for Sales Channel Convenience

Most Effective Mobile Advertising Campaign
EE, Essence & Picnic – EE Full Fibre Broadband
Kumu and AVOW – First UA Campaign Activation on Mobile OEMs and Alternative App Stores in the Philippines for Kumu
Marvel and Petrol Advertising – Marvel SNAP Launch
Unilever, InMobi and PhD – Closeup Voice Activated Campaign
Visa, Ogury and Starcom – How Ogury’s Cookieless Technology Helped VISA Engage Users During the 2022 FIFA World Cup
Vodafone Turkey and Carat – ASMR Unboxing

Most Effective Small Budget Campaign
Driving Test Success and ConsultMyApp – Maximizing Budget Potential for Driving Test Success
Good Earth Tea Co., Mobsta and Mediacom North – Good Earth, Good Energy
Hailr – Spur Spiderman: Across The Spiderverse Campaign
JoyGlitch and AppAgent – Tripling Monthly Installs for Wordling with User Acquisition and ASO
Vodafone Turkey – 25th November, I Exist
Vodafone Turkey and Carat – ASMR Unboxing

Most Effective Use of Data
B&Q and Yodel Mobile – A Data-driven Approach to Driving B&Q Incremental Revenue
Gamelight – Leveraging Data to Fuel AI Algorithms
Good Earth Tea Co., Mobsta and Mediacom North – Good Earth, Good Energy
Samsung and Vodafone Turkey – Vodafone & Samsung Data Usage in Programmatic Out of Home
Simpli.fi – Saint Lucia Tourism Authority Increases Web Traffic With Mediagistic and Simpli.fi
Vodafone Turkey and VMLY&R – November 25 – Every 11 Minutes

Most Effective User Acquisition Platform
Bidease: Transparent Mobile DSAP – Using Predictive Algorithms and ML to Grow Daily Installs X10: Bidease DSP & Messenger Home/Email Home
Gamelight – Leveraging Data to Fuel AI Algorithms
Mistplay – Mistplay Enhances its Loyalty Platform to Drive +23% Install Volume, +37% D7 Retention, and +31% D7 ROAS for Mobile Gaming Advertisers
Redbox Mobile – Astra by Redbox Mobile: A Revolution in Apple Search Ads UA
Upstream – Grow 

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Not-for-profit organisation, Creative UK, 

The £35m Creative Growth Finance II (CGF II) fund will provide the investment needed to meet the targets set out in the UK government and Creative Industries Council’s recently published Sector Vision.

“Over the past decade, the UK’s creative industries have grown more than 1.5 times the rate of the wider economy, currently generating £108bn in economic value and employing 2.3m people,” said Creative UK Chief Executive, Caroline Norbury OBE. “However, this country’s talented creative businesses are experiencing a significant gap between their immense growth potential and access to the vital capital they need to succeed.”

Delivered in partnership with Triodos Bank, CGF II is the largest single fund to be delivered by Creative UK, following its investment of more than £50m into the UK’s creative industries over the past decade.

Tech expert Sjuul van der Leeuw, CEO of Deployteq said: “The creative industries are at a really exciting moment, with tech innovation like AI revolutionising areas such as marketing and creative production, so it’s fantastic to see the UK’s commitment to supporting this growth. This extra investment will enable companies to master emerging technologies and turbocharge the sector’s growth, adding significant value for businesses and the wider economy.

“The funding will also enable the onboarding and training highly skilled staff adds a new dimension to businesses’ creative offerings as well as their capacity to make use of automation-enabled technologies to boost the efficiency of critical processes and reach new audiences through channels such as email marketing” he added.

CGF II follows on from the first Creative Growth Finance fund, which launched in 2019 and has since invested over £17m into more than 30 creative businesses located across the UK and operating within sectors including film & TV, virtual production, video games, advertising and software.

The existing CGF fund portfolio has so far experienced an 108 per cent improvement of average monthly revenues, a 39 per cent headcount growth average with more than 225 jobs created, and nearly £19m raised in further third party funding.

Phillip Bate, Director of Business Banking at Triodos Bank UK, said: “Four years on from the launch of the first Creative Growth Finance fund, our partnership with Creative UK goes from strength to strength and continues to support companies at the forefront of innovation. For a bank only focused on financing projects with positive impact, we can see the social importance of these organisations to the UK. Creative UK’s expertise has been key to helping us grow our funding of this important sector.”

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Cosmose AI has launched Kaikainow, which it describes as “a new innovation in smartphone lock screen technology”. 

Kaikainow offers smartphone users a personalised learning, news consumption, and entertainment experience. The firm said it is designed to reshape users’ daily interactions with mobile devices and offer a convenient, entertaining, and informative experience for them on the go, without the need to unlock their phones. Curated content, including news, language learning, games, and trending stories can be interspersed between users’ own personal wallpaper pictures. Users can also access Kaikainow to unlock rewards via Kai-Ching, which rewards shoppers for engagement with Kaic  tokens that can be used either online or off.

Launched last year, Kai-Ching is pegged to the US dollar and has been integrated into Cosmose’s first consumer product Kaikai, a gamified shopping app for the Singaporean market, offering savings to its users across a range of popular categories

“We check our smartphone lock screens 80 times a day on average, always seeing the same wallpaper backdrop,” said Miron Mironiuk, Founder and CEO of Cosmose AI. “Imagine, instead of seeing the same image over and over again you see it every other time, while enjoying personalized content during remaining interactions. Kaikainow turns a pretty useless habit into a powerful educational and entertainment tool, and rewards users with Kai-Ching for engagement.”

To date, five smartphone providers, including Oppo and Realme, have integrated Kaikainow into their devices.

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Hawley takes up Chief Commercial Officer role at Immediate Media
Immediate Media Co, owner and publisher of multi-platform media brands, including Radio Times and BBC Good Food, has appointed Christina Hawley to the newly-created role of Chief Commercial Officer. 

Hawley will have overall responsibility of driving new and existing revenue opportunities across Immediate’s Advertising and Subscriptions functions, alongside Immediate Live, its live events business, as well as eCommerce, affiliates, audience development, marketing and strategic partnerships activities.  

She is an experienced senior cross-functional strategic commercial leader, having previously worked across retail, eCommerce and consumer goods. Before joining Immediate, she was CCO of Ocado, with responsibility for buying, commercial strategy, monetisation and data.  

Prior to this, she was Associate Partner in the Digital Practice at McKinsey, building and delivering digital and product strategies. Her other roles include Head of Strategy at Marks & Spencer and Managing Director of Pan-African technology and digital-marketplace company, Jumia, with responsibility for commercial and logistics teams across six countries. 

She said: “I’m delighted to be joining Immediate, with their award-winning commercial and subscriptions teams, enviable portfolio of live events and market-leading brands. Immediate has developed a great reputation, and I can’t wait to start working with the teams to help on build on their success.” 

Snap appoints Bridget Lea as UK General Manager
Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, has appointed Bridget Lea as its new General Manager for the UK. Based out of London, Lea will lead Snap’s UK team and will be responsible for Snap’s business strategy, sales, operations and community growth within the region. She was most recently the Managing Director of Commercial for EE, BT’s consumer division, a role she held for three years.

“It’s a pleasure to welcome Bridget to Snap to lead our UK business,” said Ronan Harris Snap’s President of EMEA said. “I’m thrilled to add her strong leadership, values and passion for driving high-performing, result-driven businesses to our team. Our UK business remains a strategically important region for Snap and with our large and engaged community, growing roster of brands and creators and some of our most exciting AR innovation being built here, I’m excited to see advertisers and partners continue to grow their businesses with us.”

Lea said: “I’m incredibly excited to join Snap to lead the UK team. I believe in the potential of technologies like AR to transform the way businesses interact with customers and the way we live our lives. I have long admired Snaps focus on creativity and innovation. Combined with audience and insights, the opportunity for brands to inspire customers, increase loyalty and drive real business results is huge. I cant wait to get started.”

Schvartz to lead EMEA Growth Sales for Pinterest
Pinterest has appointed Clément Schvartz as Country Manager of EMEA Growth Sales. He will be responsible for leading Pinterest’s sales strategy and execution in its EMEA Growth markets, including the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Nordics, Switzerland, Austria, Poland and Israel. This includes leading the team and supporting relationships with advertisers to maximize the ways they can reach an engaged and commercially-minded audience on the platform.

Before joining Pinterest, Schvartz spent almost four years at Meta, where he was most recently Managing Director of North America Mid-Market Growth verticals, leading a cross-functional multi-billion dollar business. Prior to Meta, he spent 12 years at Google, both in EMEA and the US, building and leading sales teams focused on the UK, France and Italy. He also led the Global Strategy for enterprise platforms (Search & Analytics 360), working closely with product and engineering across top global advertising markets. He has also held roles at Unilever and Orange. 

“Clément is an accomplished leader with vast experience building and scaling growth markets across all verticals,” said Milka Privodanova, Head of EMEA Sales at Pinterest. “His deep experience in tech and consumer goods, as well as driving results for clients and agencies of all sizes, makes him an ideal fit to expand our business in our EMEA growth markets.”

Sandhu to CMO at BlackBerry
BlackBerry has appointed Neelam Sandhu as its new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). In this role, Sandhu will be responsible for leading BlackBerry marketing, including PR, social media, editorial content, branding, advertising, web, and corporate events.   

Sandhu also serves as BlackBerry’s Chief Elite Customer Success Officer, reporting directly to BlackBerry Executive Chairman and CEO, John Chen. In this role, Sandhu leads the strategic relationships, sales and co-sell, and customer success, including strategic product engineering, with BlackBerry’s top customers and top target customers, driving them to gain long-term competitive advantages by leveraging the breadth and depth of the BlackBerry platform.    

Sandhu is also Head of Sustainability, responsible for corporate sustainability at BlackBerry, and has delivered the company’s inaugural Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report and its carbon neutral status. Sandhu also assists the CEO on some operational tasks.   

Since joining BlackBerry in 2009, Sandhu has held various positions, based out the company’s UK, New York, and California offices. Her responsibilities have included brand management, brand messaging, marketing operations, go-to-market planning, corporate strategic initiatives, and CEO office business operations.   

She brings over 15 years’ experience to the role, with demonstrated success in marketing, product, operations, sales and business development, and an in-depth understanding of the unique requirements and challenges of the quickly converging cybersecurity and IoT industries, as well as an unparalleled passion for the BlackBerry brand.   

She said: “I have seen first-hand the positive impact BlackBerry’s trusted products and values can have on organisations and individuals and am excited to take on this additional role, as CMO, to expand our achievements. It is an honour to be part of a company with the unique reputation and values of BlackBerry and to have the opportunity to continue to invigorate the company’s brand as we deliver on our mission to create a secure, connected world you can trust.”    

Airship names Russell as CFO
Airship, the mobile app experience company, has named Joe Russell as Chief Financial Officer. In his new role, Russell will oversee Airship’s finance and business operations, reporting directly to CEO and president Brett Caine. 

Russell is a seasoned executive leader with deep expertise in enterprise SaaS. He has led new financial and operational management strategies that accelerated growth while balancing profitability. He previously served as CFO of Netbase Quid, an enterprise SaaS provider for data analytics. Prior to that, he held CFO roles at BrightEdge and TalentWave.   

“Joe brings an incredible set of skills and expertise in helping SaaS companies improve operational efficiency, accelerate growth and fuel innovation, making him the perfect match to help execute the next stages of Airship’s expansion,” said Airship CEO and President, Brett Caine. “For well over a decade, Airship has been first to support game-changing, annual mobile app innovations from Apple and Android, and now we’re redefining what’s possible every day by freeing marketers and product owners to enhance native app experiences without developer support. The no-code era’s impact on value creation, and Airship’s opportunity to unlock it, are massive, and I’m thrilled to have Joe join our team at the helm.”

Russell holds an MBA from The Wharton School, an MSc in Accounting and Finance from The London School of Economics and Political Science, and he graduated with a BS in Economics from the University of Washington. 

Tourtel to lead Latin America at Canela Media
Canela Media, a female and minority-owned technology driven company delivering digital media experiences for the Latino community, has appointed Eric Tourtel as its President of Latin America. Tourtel will oversee Advertising Sales Strategy, Commercial Operations and B2B Marketing for Canela Media in the region. 

He will aim to continue to establish Canela Media as a trusted partner and must-buy for advertisers, drive innovation and continue to create and redefine solutions in this ever-evolving advertising space ultimately driving growth for Canela Media throughout Latin America.

Previously, Tourtel spent a decade as CEO of Teads Latin America, during which time he accomplished significant milestones, including the establishment of Teads’ presence in Lthe region, fostering strong relationships with advertisers, agencies, and publishers, and driving remarkable growth throughout the region. Over the last decade, Teads expanded its operations across six key markets in Latin America, as well as in Miami.

Tourtel said: “I am honored to embark on this exciting journey with Canela Media after an amazing experience building Teads in Latin America. Having closely followed Canelas impressive trajectory over the past four years, my admiration for the company’s commitment to cultural authenticity and impactful storytelling has only deepened. I am thrilled to fuse my AdTech background with Canelas original content strategy, foreseeing a potent synergy that will take us to the forefront of innovation across all Canela’s distribution channels and platforms. Furthermore, I am delighted to be working under the leadership of our visionary Founder and CEO, Isabel Rafferty-Zavala.”

Weightman takes up client engagement role at Hedgehog Lab
Tech consultancy, Hedgehog Lab, has appointed Clare Weightman as Head of Client Engagement. In this role, she will be responsible for supporting the agency’s growth, bolstering client partnerships and upscaling Hedgehog Lab’s businesses. She was previously Head of Client Services for Fintech firm, Newcastle Strategic Solutions. She has a successful track record of delivering against challenging business goals, leading complex, multi-million dollar projects with global teams of 100+ for organisations including Google and eBay.

She said: “I’m hugely excited to be joining Hedgehog Lab as we embark on a new phase of growth. I am inspired by the Hedgehog Lab’s purpose ‘to empower our talent to do the best work of their lives’, particularly as a mechanism for accelerating growth. I want to ensure that we provide world-class experience for clients where we surprise and delight beyond the immediate scope of work.”

Weightman’s appointment follows Hedgehog Lab’s acquisition of digital agency Netsells in April, solidifying the consultancy’s market share in digital transformation services.

FullStory hires Bayuk as CMO
Digital experience and data platform, FullStory, has hired Lindsay Bayuk as Chief Marketing Officer. Bayuk brings nearly 15 years of marketing and technology experience to the FullStory leadership team. Most recently, she served as CMO at Pluralsight, where she was instrumental in creating the firm’s enterprise expansion strategy and category leadership position.

In her new role, Bayuk will oversee all aspects of FullStory’s global marketing with a focus on helping companies use insights from FullStory’s complete customer data to deliver exceptional digital products and experiences. 

She said: “Companies across industries need better ways to objectively understand and measure their customer experience. FullStory’s platform solves a massive market need and helps our customers build higher performing products and experiences. I’m incredibly excited to join the FullStory team and champion the impact that better data can have on shaping improved customer experiences everywhere.”

Juster to head up Marketing at The Folio Society
Independent publisher, The Folio Society, has appointed Lauren Juster as Marketing Director at an exciting time to drive customer growth and sales. Prior to joining The Folio Society, Juster served as Sales and Marketing Director at Biscuiteers, the luxury hand-iced biscuit gifting company, where she worked for 11 years. In her role, she took the brand through an extraordinary growth period and established an award-winning marketing team. Most recently, she launched the Biscuiteers’s US online offering, established an eCommerce app and spearheaded the brand’s foray into TV advertising.

She said: “I am thrilled to be joining the team at Folio. Theyre curators of the worlds ultimate bookshelf and have elevated the reading experience to a whole new level. As a self-defined bookworm, its a dream to be able to work with them during this exciting growth chapter. I am joining at a great time, as they launch their fantastic Autumn collection in September. As a big Murakami fan I am particularly excited for their edition of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.”

Kantar hires Curtis to run Digital Analytics
Marketing data and analytics firm, Kantar, has appointed Sam Curtis as Head of its Digital Analytics practice to expand the business’s work with major brands.

The practice focuses on making sense of big, unstructured search and social datasets to advise marketers on brand opportunities and consumer engagement. Curtis will use his experience working with start-ups and growing software businesses to help Kantar drive its reach in sectors such as technology, healthcare and consumer goods. In particular, he will look at giving clients a more well-rounded view of consumer trends and how they should respond to them, by combining Kantar’s analytics expertise with its wider work across the marketing mix.

This latest hire marks a return for Curtis to Kantar, where he spent 11 years between 2006 and 2017, working in both global and local consumer insight roles. He has since held senior positions across the digital data sector, including at Moment10 and Streetbees, where he led client engagement and developed new technology products. He was most recently CEO of artificial intelligence video analytics firm, Lifestream.

Amy Cashman, Executive Managing Director, Kantar Insights Division, UK & Ireland, said: “Sam knows how to develop technology-based businesses and it’s great to welcome him back to the business as we expand our digital analytics offer for clients. Like us, he sees the importance of finding the human insight in the data. Our emphasis is on using tech to get to the heart of how people think, feel and act so that we can be an indispensable partner for brands – guiding them through consumers’ changing priorities and making sure they continue giving people a reason to spend with them.”  

Wong to Chief Product Officer at Yext
Digital experience platform, Yext, has appointed Tzi-Kei Wong as its Chief Product Officer. Wong will report directly to President and Chief Operating Officer, Marc Ferrentino, and will serve on Yexts leadership team.

As CPO, Wong will lead Yext’s innovation and digital experience platform strategy to deliver exceptional value to customers. With more than 20 years’ expertise in product management and design for digital marketing software, she brings a wealth of knowledge to the role. 

Wong joins Yext from Optimizely, where she served as Vice President of Product. During her tenure, she led the product and design team responsible for products in the areas of content management, content marketing, and digital asset management systems. Wong joined the company through its acquisition of Welcome, where she served on the executive team and led product strategy, product management, and design. Prior to Welcome, she served in product and marketing leadership roles at several SaaS and enterprise software companies, including Percolate, BrightEdge, Responsys, Oracle, and SAP. 

She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering & Operations Research from University at California, Berkeley.

“We have a new vision for the industry and the opportunity to help companies deliver customer experiences that were not possible before,” said Ferrentino. “Tzi-Kei Wong is a talented executive and a proven operator to lead the company’s market-shaping innovation and deepen the value our platform creates for customers.”

Other moves
Wavemaker has promoted Client Managing Director Sian Runnacles to the role of Chief Growth Officer as it continues to expand its Executive Committee. Runnacles has enjoyed a successful 13 years in planning and client leadership at the agency, successfully managing accounts including Morrisons, William Hill, Vodafone, Kingfisher and Henkel. Prior to this, she held planning roles at Vizeum and Starcom MediaVest working on clients including Coca-Cola and Proctor & Gamble. Her remit will include unlocking new modes of growth for both Wavemaker’s existing and prospective clients; growing the agency’s specialist services such as commerce, addressable, SEO, and applied innovation; and building Wavemaker’s reputation for positive provocation.

VMLY&R London has appointed Doug Hurcombe to the newly-created role of Social & Digital Associate Creative Director. He brings to the role more than 20 years’ experience of award-winning creative content with social at the centre. His task is to lead clients’ creative ambitions to become category leaders in the digital space by connecting businesses and brands with people and culture. He joins the agency as it continues to expand its digital and social offering by also welcoming Molly Brewer and Nade Kirov. Specialising in social and content driven creative, the team join from Ogilvy where they spent three years developing work for Argos Make Yourself at Home, Škoda’s Real Life Review series and films for Skoda’s DSI cycling academy, championing young women at the start of their cycling careers, alongside Dame Sarah Story.

Independent agency group, The7stars, has announced four new senior hires across its investment team. The investment is part of a strategic move to supercharge the delivery of more creative, integrated and effective work, alongside media partners and across all media channels.

Joining the7stars in October, Lewis Shaw assumes the role of Investment Managing Partner to lead the newly-bolstered team. Shaw previously served at MGOMD for the past 16 years, most recently as Chief Investment Officer. His mission is to steer the long-term strategic growth plan for the business and its clients through its longstanding commitment to transparency and neutrality.

Adam Pace also joins as Digital Investment and Partnerships Lead, while Ian Daly, formerly Head of Activation at Bountiful Cow, part of the7stars Group, has transitioned to a Group role as Head of AV Investment.

Independent Out of Home (OOH) media agency Talon has appointed its first Group Sustainability Manager, Alice Date. The appointment coincides with Talon joining Ad Net Zero, signifying its commitment to driving good sustainability practices throughout the business and the wider advertising ecosystem. Date joins Talon after four years at the transformation consultancy firm. EY, in Australia, where she supported the implementation of sustainable practices through strategy development and reporting. Additionally, she has strong experience in ESG data interpretation and developing effective roadmaps toward net zero and wider bespoke sustainability strategies. She will lead Talon’s efforts in reducing emissions from advertising business operations and production, media planning and buying, awards and events programmes and harnessing the power of advertising to supercharge behavioural change. She will also lead the agency’s carbon reduction programme, developing a strategy to ensure Talon can reduce emissions and contribute to the collective goal of the industry to allow for more robust and transparent reporting.

Spark Foundry has appointed Kate Anthony to the newly-created role of Chief Client & Transformation Officer. She will be responsible for growing and developing client relationships, with a focus on supporting their business transformation plans and roadmaps. Anthony will also be tasked with creating new product propositions that complement the traditional planning and buying offering, and drive innovation within the agency and for its clients. She joins the agency from EssenceMediacom where she held the role of Global Managing Director, Creative Futures for the last year. She has operated within leadership at EssenceMediacom in some capacity for several years, with experience across a number of different roles, including Head of Transformation and Head of Creative Systems, across a multitude of sectors including Finance, FMCG, Entertainment, Tech, Retail and Luxury.

Digital innovation agency, Bounteous, has appointed Larry Hinz to the role of Chief Financial Officer. He will be responsible for Bounteous’ strategic growth planning and will lead the company’s accounting, financial planning, investor relations, M&A, and legal teams. He brings to the role over 35 years of experience managing all aspects of P&L for global services businesses. Throughout his career, Hinz has overseen acquisitions representing more than $2bn in invested capital, with a focus on digital and customer transformation opportunities, and raised over $3bn of debt and equity capital. Prior to joining Bounteous, he served as Global Head of M&A for Dentsu International. 

Mobile-first game developer, publisher and investor, Sandsoft Games, has appointed  Ahmed Sharif, formerly Meta’s Head of AR, VR, Metaverse Automation and Platform Engineering, as its new Chief Technology Officer. He will drive technology and innovation across the business, which has a diverse global team of more than 50 people across its headquarters in Riyadh and offices in Barcelona, Helsinki and Shanghai. Sharif will focus on enhancing and scaling the Sandsoft Publishing Platform, while providing technical direction for Sandsoft’s in-house game development, supporting and guiding the studio and engineering teams in their development journeys. His career to-date encompasses top gaming brands such as EA, Sony Interactive Entertainment and Criterion Games, and titles such as Need for Speed and Pearl’s Peril. As well as shipping the Meta Quest 2 globally, his portfolio includes the development of PSVR1, PS4 and PS4 Pro, and EA’s Frostbite game engine. 

Brand suitability and contextual advertising platform, Channel Factory, has appointed Bill Schild as GM, Americas. Bringing with him over two decades of ad tech and programmatic advertising experience, Schild will continue to expand on Channel Factory’s impressive year while at the helm of their largest region. Over the past two decades Schild has heldleadership roles within sales, customer success, marketing, business development and general management. Most recently, he served as CRO of Beeswax, where he guided the firm to record growth and profitability, leading to an acquisition by Freewheel. Post acquisition, he was responsible for setting the overall strategic vision to support growth and increased market share across Freewheel’s demand side. This experience will be invaluable as Channel Factory continues to scale.

Digital advertising platform, Ozone, has announced five internal promotions as it welcomes four new additions across the business. In the commercial team, James Mapley has been promoted to the role of Client Services Hub Lead working across Group M and Publicis, while Ryan Savage has moved into the position of Senior Client Services Manager with a remit focused on working in partnership with Ozone’s independent agency patch. Katie Brown and Neya Bhatia have both been promoted to the role of Campaign Manager, while Hope Hui has been appointed to the role of Data Scientist, reporting to Antonio Nunes, Ozone’s Head of Data Science.

Social media management firm, Hootsuite, has named Elina Vilkas Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). She will join the company’s executive leadership team which is made up of 75 per cent women and will report to CEO, Irina Novoselsky. Vilkas joins Hootsuite from WooCommerce where she was global CMO. Prior to that, she led global marketing teams at Meta, PayPal, eBay and Visa. With over two decades of marketing experience, she brings a customer-first approach to her new role. 

Video commerce solutions provider, Bambuser, has appointed Qabil Shah as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and Rasmus Mencke as Chief Product Officer (CPO).  Shah’s background is in enterprise marketing and he a track record of driving growth for renowned software companies, including Nutanix, VMware, and SAS. He will be responsible for spearheading Bambusers global marketing initiatives, elevating the brands presence, and driving customer engagement.

Mencke brings over two decades of product development and strategy experience to Bambuser. With a distinguished career that includes product leadership roles at Salesforce, Planday, and Oracle, he has consistently demonstrated his ability to drive innovation, deliver results, and shape the direction of product portfolios. His impressive portfolio of 10+ patents reflects his commitment to innovation and advancing technological solutions. He will lead Bambusers product development and strategy efforts. Leveraging his insights into market dynamics and customer needs, he will drive innovation, identify new opportunities, and shape the direction of Bambusers product offerings.

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