Apparent Expands with Senior Hires

Independent digital and direct communications agency Apparent has appointed Suzy Smiley as Head of Strategy and Josh Evans as Head of Art, following rapid growth at the agency.

Smiley is responsible for strategy and channel planning, along with an active role in business development, while Evans leads Apparent’s design team.

In addition, Apparent has added Marc Altshuler to the role of producer and graduate Stephanie Condon joins as an account executive continuing the agency’s commitment to employing graduates every year.

Altshuler joins Apparent with 14 years experience in production, and Condon is about to graduate from a Master of Commerce (Marketing & Strategy) at the University of Sydney.

Josh Evans and Suzy Smiley

“We have had an exciting start to the year with new business growth and our existing clients also growing. The appointment of Suzy and Josh reflects our philosophy of hiring senior people to work with our clients and investment in the agency. They join Apparent with a breadth of experience, brand insight and creative thinking that is proving to be invaluable to our clients,” Apparent CEO Phil Smith said.

“We’re delivering innovative strategies for our clients that drive customer engagement, build relationships, deliver value and profit, and harness the multi-channel environment their customers live in.”

With 18 years in the industry, Smiley joins Apparent from her own consultancy, which has worked in partnership with Apparent clients since 2011. Prior to that, Smiley was head of digital at Ogilvy & Mather for four years. She has worked with some of the world’s biggest brands, including Unilever, Dove, Nestle, Telstra, IBM, Network Seven, Pacific Magazines and Warners.

Evans also joins Apparent from the agency he co-founded, Happy South. Prior to that, he was senior design director at George Patterson Y&R and Wunderman. Evans has worked with Microsoft, eBay, Telstra, Marcs, Earth Hour and Red Bull, among others.

On her appointment, Smiley said: “The decision to join Apparent was easy and based on two things – the team is smart, experienced, passionate, and good at what they do, and Apparent’s client list is diverse, impressive and growing – providing lots of interesting problems to solve from a strategic point of view.”

Evans added: “Joining Apparent is a very natural step. It’s an inclusive, ‘can do’ culture, with a strong team that applauds genuine results. We have great clients and a lot of interesting opportunities. We have a real vision for the future and I’m excited to be brought on to drive our creative product to a new level.”

Commenting on Evans’ appointment, Apparent Creative Director Tom Hutton said: “I’ve known Josh for many years and knew that he was exactly the person we needed to take our creative up another gear or two, and it’s already happening. The exciting thing for me personally is that I’m now able to focus more time working closely with our clients on a creative strategy and customer experience level.”

Apparent’s clients include Nikon, Google Enterprise, Medtronic, Brennan IT, NSW Health, UBank, Transport for NSW, On the House and J Farren-Price.

Apparent was founded in 2010 and the new appointments grow the team to more than 20 people, working across creative, strategy, client service, production and development.

The appointments are effective immediately.

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