Concrete Playground has announced a series of new hires and promotions that underline its growth ambitions as Australia eyes the return of major events, travel and shared experiences.
Concrete Playground has appointed Suz Tucker as editorial director and Samantha Zoratto as client services director, also promoting Tahlia Phillips to general manager and Kristen Lazaric to commercial director.
Of the new leadership structure, Concrete Playground’s founder and director Rich Fogarty said, “We are now incredibly well positioned as a business to support our team and our clients as we expand our collective ambitions. The challenges of the past year have made the business stronger, and with our growing team we can play an important role in helping to fast track the cultural revival of our cities.”
Suz Tucker’s previous roles include a long-time tenure as managing editor of Pedestrian.tv, where she was instrumental in establishing the tone of voice, editorial direction and social strategy for the brand in its early stages.
She made the move to agency, most recently working at creative agency We Are Social for almost four years, where she led a department responsible for editorial strategy, always-on social content, content-led campaigns and influencer programs for clients like Netflix, Samsung Global, Audi, Foxtel and Red Bull.
Samantha Zoratto joins the Concrete Playground team after spending two years as client services director at The Urban List, bringing with her a wealth of experience managing large-scale content campaigns for partners like Coca-Cola, Jaguar, Magnum and Dare Iced Coffee.
With over ten years of publishing experience preceding this, Zoratto’s previous roles include a tenure as Brand Manager for Fairfax mastheads Good Food and Traveller.
Tahlia Phillips joined Concrete Playground’s commercial team in 2015 and was promoted to commercial director in 2018 after cultivating major content partnerships with brands like American Express, Mazda, Lion and City of Sydney.
Under her leadership, the team was awarded Sales Team of The Year & Branded Content Studio of the Year at the 2019 Publish Awards.
Kristen Lazaric has been promoted to the role of commercial director after 18 months working as senior partnerships director at Concrete Playground. Lazaric has spent the past decade working in Australia and the UK for platforms including Net-A-Porter, GQ and Vice, where she specialised in branded content solutions for luxury and lifestyle brands.
In her time with Concrete Playground, she has secured partnerships with brands like Square, DoorDash, Adidas and Lego.
As one of Australia’s largest independent digital publishers, Concrete Playground operates city guide websites in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, as well as Auckland and Wellington in New Zealand.
Featured Image: Clockwise from top left – Samantha Zoratto, Suz Tucker, Tahlia Phillips, Rich Fogarty, Kristen Lazaric.
