People on the move: hires and departures at ESPN, MailOnline, Mary Portas, Publicis and more

Publicis London deputy managing director Jason Cobbold has left the agency to join innovation agency Redscout.

Cobbold, who joined Publicis in 2010 from Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH), has been appointed managing director of the agency’s new London office, and will be responsible for driving international growth.

Redscout, which includes PepsiCo and Bacardi among its clients, has offices in New York and San Francisco, and is now poised to open its first London office which Cobbold will head up.

ESPN

ESPN has promoted Seth Ader to vice president of marketing.

Ader, who has been at ESPN since 2001, previously served as senior director of marketing, overseeing the marketing efforts for the NFL, Fantasy Football, NBA, MLB and English Premier League as well as the 2006, 2010, and 2014 Fifa World Cups.

MailOnline

MailOnline has appointed Anne Shooter to its team as commercial editor, where she will oversee native advertising.

Shooter will ensure that the ads are engaging for MailOnline readers while meeting the commercial goals of its advertising clients.

She said: “Native advertising is an important commercial priority for MailOnline, offering brands the extraordinary opportunity to reach its highly engaged and continually growing audience of 180 million people globally.”

Wooshii

Former Starcom Mediavest (SMG) chief executive Stewart Easterbrook has become strategic advisor to video production marketplace Wooshii.

The UK-based company, which already has a community of more than 10,000 video-making professionals globally, provides a platform through which brands and agencies can set briefs for video content production.

Video production professionals that are part of the Wooshii community can then bid for the work.

Portas Agency

VCCP’s group PR director Katherine Levy has left the agency to take up the role of marketing and new business director at Portas, the communications agency spearheaded by Mary Portas.

In her new role, Levy will report to Portas’ managing director Caireen Wackett, and will be responsible for the marketing, PR and new business functions of the agency which counts Clarks, Westfield and Mercedes-Benz amongst its clients.

Havas EHS

Havas EHS has appointed Liz Tang as client services director where she will grow the firm’s client portfolio.

Tang was previously group business director at TMW where she was responsible for agency brands across the health and beauty, homecare, personal care and food categories. She has been tasked with building upon the existing end-to-end customer journey using her talents for digital consultancy.

Tang will take over from Andy Buist who has been promoted to the newly created role of associate global brand director of Unilever.

Doner London

Doner London has appointed Wayne Deakin as its first executive creative director, where he will play a part in helping to grow the agency’s global footprint.

Part-owned by MDC Partners, Doner counts Fiat Group among its clients, handling digital and social for its Fiat, Chrysler, Jeep, Alfa Romeo and Abarth brands.

"Wayne's stature and pedigree are the perfect fit at such a dynamic time for the agency here in the UK and in the States," said Andrew Hawkins, managing director at Doner London. "He's a very rare breed of creative who can deliver truly integrated, award-winning campaigns that elevate brands into pop culture. I've admired his work from afar since we first met four years ago, and I'm thrilled to now be able to welcome him to the Doner family."

MediaCom

MediaCom has announced Costin Mihaila and Kate Rowlinson as joint managing directors for its London office.

Mihaila was previously chief executive for Central and Eastern Europe, and will now be responsible for supporting clients as well as identifying and implementing best practice on market integration.

Rowlinson was new business and marketing director for EMEA, and will continue to lead MediaCom’s new business and marketing responsibilities and also manage the rollout of MediaCom’s 20|20 Connections planning system across the region.

JWT London

JWT London has appointed Tom O’Donnell as event director of its in-house event arm JWT Live.

O’Donnell joins the agency after 15 years working across the globe for the likes of Samsung, Sony, Ford, MTV, Condé Nast and Selfridges. More recently for JWT, O’Donnell helped lead the creation of a kinetic football pitch in Brazil for Shell, a project he said led to the decision to join the team on a permanent basis.

"Joining JWT was a big decision,” he admitted. “But having lead the Shell #makethefuture Brazil project opened my eyes to the possibilities of a ‘live’ offer within advertising. JWT is a company with 10,000 talented people in 200 offices over 90 countries with 150 years of experience.

Th_nk

Th_nk has named Jason Warnes, previously managing director and global head of talent at AKQA, as managing director.

The appointment will now see Warnes oversee all operational aspects of the business including key client accounts.

During his time at AKQA, Warnes worked on brands such as VW, Audi, Mont Blanc and Deutsche Telekom and helped the agency open an office in Berlin.

Brand Union

Brand Union has promoted Jonny Westcar from client lead for GSK to managing director for London.

His new role at the WPP-owned global brand strategy and design agency will see Westcar lead the strategic growth of the London office, while also maintaining some of his key client responsibilities.

Millenial Media

Mobile ad platform company Millenial Media has made two new strategic appointments to its EMEA leadership team with the additions of Gavin Johnson as VP sales, UK, and Paul Gubbins as head of programmatic, EMEA.

The two moves will help Millennial Media in aligning its go-to-market strategies to the automated buying and selling of advertising, as well as increasing its focus outside of North America. Both new hires will report to EMEA managing director Zac Pinkham, and will work out of Millennial Media’s London office.

LV=

Anna Peak, previously head of marketing for LV= Broker, has been promoted to the newly created role of broker marketing director.

As part of the new role Peak will head up LV=’s new broker insight programme, and will also continue to develop the broker portal, LV=’s one stop shop for brokers, as part of the company’s ongoing strategy to grow its digital offering.

Hogarth Worldwide

To support their next phase of growth, WPP-owned marketing implementation agency Hogarth Worldwide has made two new senior management appointments, with ex Unilever chief technology officer (CTO) Greg Swimer joining as CTO and ex Synchronica chief operating officer, Nicole Meissner, as digital operations director.

Doddle

Doddle, the new parcel service located in and around train stations across the UK, has appointed Paddy Earnshaw as chief marketing officer, with a place on the main board.

In the role Earnshaw, who joins from Worldpay where he held the position of customer experience director,will be responsible for the strategic direction of the business and overseeing its growth plans.

His remit also includes managing the company’s £4m marketing budget for 2014/15 and its key agencies which include M&C Saatchi.

Visualise

London-based virtual reality company Visualise has appointed Cannes-award winning producer and director William McMaster in the newly created role of head of virtual reality, following a surge in brand interest, particularly in the motoring and travel sectors.

Williams’ role at Visualise will focus on developing narrative storytelling techniques in VR, as well as developing new ways of shooting perfect 3D 360 video content.

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