Nestlé gets new MD for UK and Ireland, Omnicom and Hearts & Science shuffle internal teams

Alex Gonnella has been appointed Group Marketing Director for Nestlé UK and Ireland. He joins the firm’s leadership team after five years as Marketing Director for Nestlé Confectionery UK and Ireland. Gonnella will be responsible for leading a high-performing and inclusive marketing team, servicing all Nestlé categories. He has worked for Nestlé for 17 yearsand has held global positions including European Grocery Marketing Director for Purina in Switzerland, as well as a Vice President Generating Demand Asia, Oceania & Africa, based in Australia. In 2014 he returned to the UK as Head of Marketing for Northern Region Purina, covering the UK and Ireland, the Netherlands and the Nordics.

Omnicom Media Group’s data and technology arm Annalect has named Marie Clayton as its UK Managing Director. Clayton was previously Managing Partner at Omnicom Media Group UK, leading on Omni UK and OMG UK Product. In her new role, Clayton will be responsible for Annalect’s strategic direction and for driving the performance of the Omni platform in the UK. She has almost 25 years’ experience in media and marketing platforms with a career including positions with BBC Worldwide, as well as IPG Mediabrands and Dentsu businesses.

Hearts & Science has promoted its Head of Client Experience Amy Matthews to the newly created role of Chief Experience Officer. Matthews has been with Hearts & Science for nearly five years, and has been a co-chair of OMG Minds as well as a Mental Health First Aider.

Dr. Ram Singh, winner of the PMW Performance Pioneer at this year’s PMW US Awards, has joined media agency network Crossmedia as its first Chief Performance Media Officer, leading all of its performance media and performance analytics functions. He has more than two decades experience in performance media, with the past seven years as the Chief Analytics and Product Officer at Publicis’ Performics unit. Prior to that, Dr. Singh held several C-suite roles including Chief Marketing Officer at Brandman.

GroupM’s new media agency EssenceMediacom has named Benjamin Wei as China CEO. He starts his new role this month after his previous role as Essence China CEO. Wei joined GroupM China in 2010, as Business Director, Mobile.

Sam Olive has joined The Specialist Works as Head of AV. Olive was previously Thinkbox’s Planning Controller.

Pedro Ramos has joined Havas Media Group as Head of e-commerce at Havas Market. Ramos was previously at Omnicon Media Group for four years, most recently as Global Performance Executive Director at OMD EMEA.

Leeds and Manchester-based e-commerce agency AYKO Digital has made five new hires following a series of client wins. Lucy Gregg joins as Senior Paid Media Manager, with four years experience in large agencies. Dan Carr joins as SEO Manager with four years experience agency-side and will be heading up the SEO offering and supporting AYKO clients with SEO auditing, platform migrations, and growth strategy. Also joining the AYKO team is a Junior UI/Web Designer and two new marketing graduates.

Entertainment and lifestyle marketing agency Allied Global Marketing has launched its Partnership Marketing division in London and appointed Melanie Wills as Vice President, UK/European Partnership Marketing. Wills was previously Head of Partnerships for price comparison site CompareTheMarket.com.

Lillian Betty has joined digital content agency and media network Little Dot Studios as its head of Client Development for its Consumer Brand Division. Betty will be responsible for business development for Little Dot Studios’ full-service agency proposition, leading the business strategy for one of the agency's newest teams and significant growth areas. She will oversee new business development for digital strategy, social content production, distribution and paid social amplification for clients within Little Dot Studios’ Consumer Brand division. Betty was previously at BEN group but has held roles at eBay heading up Brand Partnerships and Future plc where she was responsible for all relationships with media owners and suppliers.

Consumer insights provider Toluna has hired Jeff Claypoole as General Manager, Americas. Claypoole will be responsible for continuing to drive sales and revenue growth in the region. He brings two decades of market research experience, with prior leadership roles at Affinova and NielsenIQ.

Amelia Parsons has joined ShowHeroes Group as its UK Head of Supply. In her new role, Parsons will help ShowHeroes Group grow its UK publisher network and increase its strategic partnerships. She started her career at brand advertising company, Collective, as an account manager, later moving to become Head of Publishing after the company’s acquisition by Time Inc. UK in 2016.

PR agency Dreamday has hired Jeremiah Corley as Affiliate Director. He was previously the first employee of sexual wellness brand maude, working with the CEO on its pre-launch marketing strategy and leading the execution and growth of its affiliate program. At Dreamday, Corley will be building out and scaling its affiliate division in addition to overarching strategy and development.

Brewdog’s Head of Marketing Daniel Jones has joined Bermondsey-based Small Beer Co as Head of Brand. Jones joined BrewDog in 2018 as international marketing activator, before being promoted to group brand manager in 2021 and Head of Marketing later that year.

Audience insights technology company GWI had appointed Sara Spivey as Non-Executive Director. Spivey will be based in Austin, Texas. Most recently, she was Chief Marketing Officer at SaaS firm Braze, and held prior roles as Chief Marketing and Client Officer at BazaarVoice, and CEO at InReach.

Adform has expanded its UK team with the appointment of four new team members. Julien Sneeuwjagt joins as Enterprise Sales Director, Allan Sheriff comes on board as Global Account Director, David Lionel becomes Sales Account Development Manager and Milica Lukic is joining as Account Director.

Maria Weege becomes capital markets software and advisory firm LPA as its Head of Marketing, after starting at the company a year ago as Digital Marketing Lead. She has over a decade of marketing experience, most recently as Head of Marketing for ACREDIS AG, a subsidiary of Swiss private clinics group, Pallas Kliniken.

Digital entrepreneur and influencer Dr. Adanna Steinacker has joined fashion platform LABELL-D as Chief Growth Officer. She will be responsible for managing LABELL-D’s brand awareness and audience growth, utilising her experience as one of the UK’s leading lifestyle influencers to grow the platform’s community. Her work spans international brands including Lego, eBay and Pandora.

UK-based checkout finance platform provider Divido has appointed Helen Aboagye as Chief Marketing Officer. Aboagye previously held marketing leadership roles at Colt Technology and Currencycloud. She was most recently CMO at Imagen.

Hybrid customer experience solutions provider Uberall has hireed Alid Dettke as its new Chief People Officer and Paul Nannetti as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Dettke has more than 15 years’ experience spanning consulting for Accenture Interactive to leading corporate digital innovation organisations, most recently as Chief Human Resources Officer at Finnish tech and lifecycle solution provider Wärtsilä. Nannetti was formerly a member of the Group Executive Committee of Capgemini, responsible for Sales, Portfolio Transformation, and Cloud Services.