Marketing leadership switches at PayPal, Tourism NT, HP

Dominic Brandon

A host of Australian marketing leaders have snatched the opportunity to change roles, companies and countries as we usher in the New Year.

Allianz’s former group manager of marketing and brand, Dominic Brandon, has taken up a new role as head of brand for Australia at PayPal. Brandon spent the past eight years with the insurance group, and spearheaded a number of initiatives, including Allianz’s Stadium sponsorship and its ‘Ahhh-lianz’ brand campaign.

Prior to this, he held brand and marketing roles previously with the Commonwealth Bank, CommSec and Austar. Brandon was listed in the inaugural CMO50 list in 2015 for his efforts at Allianz.

In a statement, PayPal Australia marketing director, Elaine Herlihy, said Brandon’s arrival in the newly created role coincided with an important time for the company.

“We established the head of brand to further invest in the local marketing team and continue to build on PayPal’s strong leadership position in Australia,” she said. “We will be drawing on Dominic’s wealth of knowledge and depth of experience in 2017 and beyond.

“The nature of money has changed, and now more than ever, Australians are looking to fintech companies to offer innovative and adaptive approaches to commerce which keep up with the trends.”

Brandon also noted the significant changes going on in the industry.

“PayPal is operating in an industry that is undergoing significant change and the Australian market is well placed to be leading the commerce evolution globally,” he said. “Australians are early adopters of technology innovations such as mobile commerce and NFC which make managing and moving their money easier. I am looking forward to working with the experienced team at PayPal Australia at this transformative time for the brand.”

Tourism NT CMO, Adam Coward, has also switched tourism for racing and the Northern Territory for the Sunshine State, and taken up a sales and marketing role at Racing Queensland. He joined as the general manager of sales and marketing for the racing body in January.

Coward previously spent four years as Tourism NT’s executive director of marketing. His achievements during this time included restructuring the way the tourism body interacts with customers and trade partners, as well as taking charge of an increased marketing body to promote the destination to international travellers.

Brisbane-born Coward previously worked as a marketing analyst and ecommerce strategic for Colorado Group, in digital marketing at Virgin Australia, and ran his own events and supply businesses for several years.

A Tourism NT spokesperson confirmed Jo Smallacombe will join the organisation as general manager of marketing for six months from 23 January to fill the gap left by Coward’s departure. She has been in an acting role as executive director for strategic communications and engagement with the Northern Territory Government since October, and was previously its marketing director for two years.

HP’s head of marketing for South Pacific, Darren Needham-Walker, has also changed roles, albeit within the same organisation. The local marketing head has been promoted to a global marketing role as head of worldwide office printing solutions, and relocated to the US.

Needham-Walker commenced the local role in October 2010 and was featured on the 2016 CMO50 list of Australia’s most innovative marketers. One key milestone over the past year has been working with Australian influencers to help the HP brand build its credentials in the millennials market.

Navitas group manager of emarketing, Rob Brown, is another local marketer who’s decided to make a change, leaving the education provider and starting up his own marketing automation and marketing strategy consultancy, TMG Consulting.

Brown was with Navitas for eight years and responsible for introducing marketing automation to the organisation. He was also tasked with driving the ASX-listed group’s digital marketing and sales strategy.

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