People on the Move, including changes at Accenture, Virgin Media and the Co-op

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Brands

Virgin Media O2 has announced Simon Groves as its new director of brand and marketing. Groves will report to chief operating officer Jeff Dodds and will lead on the company’s brand and marketing activities, including creative and campaigns, customer marketing, media, sponsorship and brand strategy.

The Co-op has announced the appointment of Nick Meagher as head of insight and research as part of ongoing growth to its data, digital and loyalty team, following the refresh of its membership program and launch of the Co-op app last year.

Agencies

David Droga, the founder and chairman of Droga5, has been appointed as the chief executive of Accenture Interactive as current chief Brian Whipple readies for retirement. In his new global role, Droga will “drive creative excellence, customer experience and business innovation”, said the company. In tandem with Droga’s appointment, Accenture said Whipple would retire. Under his leadership, Accenture Interactive grew to $10.6bn in revenue last year.

Health strategy veteran Christianna Gorin has been promoted to health practice lead and chief strategy officer for VMLY&R Health, North America. The move comes after VMLY&R Health in North America recorded year-on-year growth rates of 21% in 2021 with key wins from Pfizer, Astra Zeneca, Genentech and Alexion.

Publicis Groupe has announced that Epsilon chief executive Bryan Kennedy plans to retire at the end of 2021 after 25 years with the company. Kennedy will step down as chief exec and transition into an executive strategic advisor role, effective immediately, to provide guidance and ensure a smooth transition through the end of the year.

Global digital advertising agency Jellyfish has pinched Thomas Byrne and Adam Guilfoyle from Dentsu International. Both join from multinational media company Merkle, adding a wealth of experience to the ongoing growth and rapid expansion of Jellyfish. Byrne and Guilfoyle leave their posts as executive vice-president, EMEA, agency services, and head of agency sales respectively. The appointments follow Tom Roach, who left Omnicom’s Adam & Eve/DDB to become Jellyfish’s vice-president, brand planning.

Agency No Fixed Address has made a major change in its leadership team with the promotion of chief marketer Mark Carpenter to the role of president in Canada. Carpenter is among the early executive hires at NFA. He now assumes overall responsibility for NFA’s Toronto and Montreal operations, including integrated lines of business that span creative, PR, media, content development and performance media.

MullenLowe US has landed Ricard Valero to lead creative at MullenLowe New York as executive creative director. Valero, who will report to the US chief exec Lee Newman, joined the agency from TBWA\Chiat\Day New York, where he was executive creative director. He will work alongside the agency’s leadership team, managing director Rebekah Pagis and head of strategy Jonny Gadd.

Independent agency St Luke’s has boosted its planning capabilities with the appointment of two new planning directors: Emma Banks and Charlotte Walters. Both join from Ogilvy, where they were previously senior strategists and also mentored up-and-coming planners via the Ogilvy apprenticeship scheme.

Simon Cox has joined global experience agency Huge as vice-president, strategy, from Publicis Sapient, where he was senior director, CX&I lead, London. In his new role, Cox will take a lead in further enhancing the agency’s strategic output, working across all clients.

Award-winning marketing strategist and business transformation leader Wan-Gyn Ang is joining Brainlabs to amplify the agency’s growth in APAC with a mission to share Brainlabs’s unique data, tech and talent approach with clients across the region.

Media

Football media business Copa90 has announced the appointment of Petrit Berisha in the newly-created role of head of cryptomedia. From Premier League clubs with front-of-shirt cryptocurrency sponsors, to Lionel Messi’s transfer to French club Paris St Germain including payment in cryptocurrency fan tokens, the world of football is embracing cryptocurrency at an ever-accelerating rate. Berisha joins Copa90 after consulting and building out various projects in media, sports, financial services and the blockchain space.