Publicis Sapient has appointed new members to its experience team. 

The agency announced that Karin Giefer is in as the new SVP for experience while Quinnton Harris is group creative director. Chief experience officer John Maeda will be their immediate superior.

Giefer will be collaborating with Maeda on developing the agency’s LEAD experience system. 

She has almost 20 years’ experience on record, including a business innovation director post at Wieden + Kennedy and most recently worked on digital design consultancy for McKinsey. 

Harris, who recently exited from a creative director post at Blavity Inc, will also double as Maeda’s chief of staff.

“The expertise brought by Karin and Quinnton will undoubtedly strengthen Publicis Sapient’s ability to help clients thrive in the fourth Industrial Revolution with access to their blended engineering and artistic talents,” said Maeda.

Follow Giefer and Harris on LinkedIn.

Ogilvy has added more people to its creative department.

ECD Gavin McLeod said the team expansion was needed to level up the agency’s competitive offerings in the social field. 

To this end, Ogilvy tapped Peter Galmes as Lead Social Creative. He will work alongside agency social head Alex Watts. Galmes came from We Are Social where he was most recently creative director. 

New creatives were also added to the Agile Team. Maria Torres came in as art director with senior copywriter Deb Rothschild, senior designer Lee So-jung, and junior designer Hu Jingyi.

AWS has today confirmed their support of the Australian IT Journalism Awards (the Lizzies).

Joining Watterson Communications & Enex Testlab, Amazon's support enables the Lizzies to be held every year.
 
MediaConnect CEO Phil Sim: "The IT Journalism Awards are a fantastic opportunity for the technology industry to show their appreciation for Australia's technology media community. As such, we're delighted to welcome another of the IT sector's premier brands, in Amazon Web Services, as a supporter of these awards and thank them for helping us to recognise the tremendous work that Australia's technology media produce."

We look forward to working with Dan Chamberlain, Talia Spink and the rest of the Amazon team to deliver a memorable night.

To find out more about supporting the Australian IT Journalism Awards, please contact Commercial Director Mike Woodcock, and for updates on awards entries (closing Friday

VMLY&R‘s New Zealand branch has won agency-of-record rights for the Villa Maria Estate winery.

The new deal calls for VMLY&R to build Villa Maria’s new global marketing communications platform and also angle the brand towards both overseas markets and premium NZ wine enthusiasts. 

Villa Maria marketing chief Jesper Poulsen said VMLY&R did well by studying the winery’s products and market thrust, then brought together an innovative, relevant pitch. 

“We are absolutely thrilled to be appointed, it is an exciting time to be working with Villa Maria Estate, a pioneering innovator in its field, to build their international profile and increase market share,” added VMLY&R Auckland MD James Mok.

Wunderman Thompson has joined forces with Special K to create a campaign for the AFLW.

Called “Rise with Us,” the campaign focuses on four specific AFLW players who have been successful at the game and balanced it with their private lives off the field - Moana Hope (Collingwood/North Melbourne), Darcy Vescio (Carlton), Chloe Malloy (Collingwood), and Monique Conti (Western Bulldogs). 

Their stories will be explained in 15- and 60-second videos, which will run up to the season kickoff on 7 February.

“To follow their dreams of playing AFL, these women have to work tremendously hard; from when they begin playing as kids to the challenges faced playing professionally. It’s been a privilege working with the Kellogg’s team and the AFL to help tell the stories of these women,” said Wunderman Thompson national chief creative officer Simon Langley.

The Northern Territory’s main tourism body, Tourism NT, is inviting PR agencies across Australia to join a new press office under its Domestic Consumer Communications and Northern Territory Business Events departments. All tenders are expected for submission by 24 January, with the official contract work for 12 months to begin on 31 January.

Mumbrella reported that the new office will have the chosen agencies collaborating on national media coverage for popular activities in the territory, under Tourism NT’s new “Different in Every Sense” brand campaign. NT Business Events will spearhead marketing work to promote the territory as a viable destination for major corporate events. 

Access PR has run the Tourism NT account for two years, and has committed to be part of the new endeavour. Other agencies already handle media and creative aspects.

“Our PR agency panellists are an extension of our team and the resource they provide is invaluable in ensurin

VMLY&R Melbourne is entering 2020 with a bigger creative team ready for action.

The agency announced this week that senior art director Kieran Moroney is now promoted to associate creative director. He has been with the agency for the past five years.

Shane Geffen is also aboard as associate creative director. He joined the agency following two years as senior copywriter with Clemenger BBDO.

Kate Noonan joined the team as art director, with her six years’ experience including graphic designer stints at Workwear and Anaconda. 

Freelance writer Michelle See-Tho is joining the team as copywriter. A former Junkee contributor, she and Noonan are graduates of the 2019 AWARD Schools program.

“We truly have world-class talent in Kieran and Shane, with their unique and proven approach to problem-solving they make a formidable team. Combined with the addition of young guns Kate and Michelle, our creative offering couldn’t be stronger,” said VMLY&R Melbou