Manning Gottlieb OMD exec board member joins WFCA
WFCA has poached Manning Gottlieb OMD executive board member Mark Gallagher to be the agency's media director.
Gallagher joined Manning Gottlieb OMD in 1999 as an account manager working on Virgin Mobile and Mitsubishi business and climbed to the role of executive board director, press, online and search.
Before that he was an ad manager at Radio Rentals and a planner/buyer at Carat.
He replaces incumbent in the role Bill Jones, who “is leaving to pursue other interests”, and will head up WFCA's media offering five years after the Kent-based advertising and marketing agency added media to its offer.
By media, WFCA is current ranked 29 in the UK by Nielsen. The agency's CEO, Michael Richards (pictured, left, with Gallagher) said Gallagher's “talent and experience” would help deliver his objective of doubling the agency's media business over the next 18 months.
“We’ve built up a strong media department from scratch over the past five years and now we’re ready for Mark to bring his talent and experience to really ramp it up,” he said. “He’ll be working closely with our media planning director, Jon Cook.
“I’m looking at doubling our media business over the next 18 months, and together Mark and Jon and the whole media department will be the top team to deliver those objectives.”
Gallagher said WFCA's Tunbridge Wells location – the agency is 40 minutes from London – was a factor in his decision.
“They are based just 40 minutes outside London in glorious Tunbridge Wells and have just as much buzz and resource as a 'London agency',” he said.
“They're also a group of incredibly talented, hard-working and commercially-minded individuals.”
In a further development at the agency, Robert Hamer has been appointed to its board of directors as non-executive director with immediate effect.
He was recently responsible for creating a Central Eastern Europe and Scandinavian network for Foote, Cone and Belding, the American communications network.