Insurance giant and sporting body start the year by bringing on new senior digital and marketing leaders
IAG and the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) have both started the year with fresh senior digital and marketing hires.
IAG CMO, Brent Smart, confirmed that the insurance giant has brought on former Pandora marketing director, Sally Kiernan, as marketing director for NRMA Insurance. CMO understands she is not a direct replacement for former IAG consumer marketing leader, Jane Merrick, who left the organisation in September last year after a restructure of the wider marketing function, but rather part of the new-look centralised marketing team being created by Smart.
Kiernan was group marketing director of Pandora A/NZ for one year and up until the music streaming service closed its local operations on 31 July 2017. Prior to this, she was marketing director at Presto.
Kiernan’s resume also includes stints as head of sales and marketing and senior marketing manager at Ubank (owned by NAB), along with emerging media and video manager at Vodafone Hutchison Australia.
“Sally is a respected, strategic and passionate marketer with impressive experience across a diverse range of categories,” Smart said in a statement to CMO. “There are exciting things ahead for NRMA Insurance and we are thrilled to have Sally on-board to take the brand’s marketing efforts into the future.”
The appointment comes just weeks after NRMA launched its Christmas brand campaign, the first work undertaken in partnership with fresh creative agency, The Monkeys. The two-minute film took its direction from the infamous John Lewis Christmas ad campaigns and followed the story of grandparents who embark on a safe journey to reach their granddaughter, Indy, in time for Christmas Day.
The Australian Sports Commission has also welcomed a new recruit to its marketing ranks this week. Wing Cheung joins the organisation as digital strategy and insights deputy general manager, reporting into recently installed marketing chief, Louise Eyres.
Cheung has 18 years’ experience in marketing and digital fields, and is being tasked with raising the level of digital maturity within the ASC and across the sports sector, Eyres said.
Prior to joining the ASC, Cheung was co-founder and head of strategy and partnerships for Ignition Immersive, a virtual reality film production house. Previous roles include head of customer insight and strategy at ANZ Bank, head of direct channel marketing and senior manager of digital strategy for consumer marketing at NAB, and manager of client services at AC Nielsen.
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