Customer experience agency Lavender has appointed award-winning business development professional Helge Gruttke as business director on the Telstra account.

Gruttke joins Lavender next month from his most recent post as Global Brand Agency Leader at GREY Germany where he oversaw 30+ markets for Allianz and lead the germanwings and ArcelorMittal accounts. He brings strong integrated marketing skills, a leadership track record and a flair for solving business challenges to his new role.

He first broke into the industry on client-side in marketing roles in the IT sector, gaining a solid foundation in marketing fundamentals. He was then lured across to the agency side with his first role at AMV BBDO in London where he worked on a Cannes-winning TVC spot for Shockwave.

In an international career spanning more than 15 years at agencies including BBDO, Gyro, Geometry and Grey, Gruttke has worked on award-winning campaigns for Allianz, IBM, DHL, Shell and TOTAL among others. At the recent Cannes Lions festival his team picked up 3 Lions for its work on germanwings and Microsoft/Skype.

Lavender founder Will Lavender said: “Helge is a formidable talent with extensive global experience. Much of his work has been creatively awarded, and he has successfully delivered sales and brand growth for all his clients. His focus has always been on customer experience, translating customer insights into compelling and effective campaigns, which is the perfect fit for Lavender’s customer-centric approach as a CX agency.”

Gruttke added: “I am excited to be working with a team of dedicated, inventive people who are truly focused on delivering customer-focused work for their clients. Lavender is a unique agency because it goes beyond traditional campaigns to deliver multi-channel experiences, in-depth systems integration and data management solutions. I look forward to marrying my skills to what Lavender does best and taking our work on Telstra to the next level.”