Special Group strengthens strategy department with new promotions and appointments
Top row, left to right: Ed Gunn, Jolene D’Souza, Nick Salter
Bottom row, left to right: Amy Willesme, Rory Gallery
Special has added more firepower to its award-winning strategy team through a raft of promotions, fresh hires and new recruitment.
Special’s head of strategy, Rory Gallery, has been promoted to chief strategy officer; with planning directors Ed Gunn and Nick Salter also promoted to become group planning directors.
The promotions are off the back of a particularly strong twelve months for Special’s strategy team.
Gallery was selected as Campaign Asia’s ‘Planner of the Year’ across Australia and New Zealand. Meanwhile Special won New Zealand’s first-ever Global Effie and the agency was recognised across a variety of award shows around the world for creative effectiveness including the One Show.
To help fuel its continued growth Special has hired two new strategists – Jolene D’Souza (as strategy director) and Amy Willemse (as strategist) – and is currently recruiting for additional team members.
D’Souza joins Special from Dentsu, where she was a strategist on the ASB account. ASB’s work has been lauded as category leading over the last 12 months both here and abroad. Amy Willemse joins Special from DDB TRACK Aotearoa, and rounds out the team expertise with a specialist understanding of CX.
Says Gallery: “My amazing colleagues have worked extremely hard across a talented group of clients over the past couple years. We are incredibly proud of the business results we’ve generated together and to see Special recognised as New Zealand’s leading agency, being named ‘New Zealand Agency of the Year’ by Campaign Brief, Campaign Asia and B&T.
“I’d like to congratulate Ed Gunn and Nick Salter on their well-deserved promotions, as well as welcome Jolene D’Souza and Amy Willesme to the Special fold who have already made an amazing impact.”
Says Michael Redwood, managing partner, Special Group: “Special has long been recognised for its world-class creative and design – a key reason we’re as successful as we are in both of those fields is down to the hard work and smart thinking of our strategy team. We’d like to thank Rory and the whole team for their continued effort – and we can’t wait to share some major projects we’re working on behind the scenes.”
Says Tony Bradbourne, CEO/CCO, Special Group: “We are very lucky to be working with many of New Zealand’s leading companies and marketers, as well as an increasingly number of the world’s most ambitious brands. It’s great to see the quality of our strategy team’s thinking and business strategies recognised at the highest level globally. And to be able to recognise Rory for his leadership and the whole team for their stellar efforts.”
Special is enjoying an exceptional period of hard-won success and growth – winning all three major ‘Agency of the Year’ awards, welcoming new clients, growing revenue, and increasing staff numbers across Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne and Los Angeles offices.
Special is currently recruiting for a junior to mid-level strategist to join its team, and would encourage any interested applicants to contact HR manager Alice Swann for more information on alice.swann@specialgroup.co.nz