Michael Pooley has been appointed CEO of PPR for Australia and New Zealand.

Formerly chief operating officer for the past three years, Pooley takes up the role effective immediately. Pooley has spent 10 years at PPR, holding various roles including group director, general manager of the Sydney agency and COO for ANZ and has led some of the agency’s largest accounts, including Woolworths, Emirates and Subway.

Before joining PPR, Pooley spent a decade in London at agencies including Charles Barker BSMG Worldwide, Weber Shandwick and Four Communications. He led campaigns including bmi, Barclaycard and Fujitsu-Siemens.

Pooley will lead a team of consultants across six owned offices in Australia and New Zealand and will report to WPP AUNZ CEO PR & PA, Kieran Moore. He takes over from Interim CEO, Katrina Brangwin, who successfully lead the agency through a period of agency transformation.

Moore congratulated Pooley on his appointment.

“PPR is a great agency with a strong pedigree and the unique position of having local teams of experts across six cities in Australia and New Zealand,” said Moore.

“WPP AUNZ has a lot of ambition for PPR and Michael matches that ambition. He has a firm vision for the agency’s future, is committed to horizontality across the wider WPP AUNZ Group and his client skills are nothing short of excellent. It’s a great privilege to be able to promote within the ranks of WPP and I look forward to working with him,” she said.

Commenting on his appointment Pooley said: “To have the opportunity to lead one of the most respected PR agencies in ANZ is an incredible privilege for me. For the decade I have been with PPR, I have always understood the unique way in which PPR can help build bonds between brands and their communities.

“Our unique network of offices means brands who partner with us have access to insights and relationships into the markets and interest groups that matter because our teams physically live there. By living and breathing these communities it means they deeply understand how they work, live and play and can devise effective campaigns that resonate.

“I’m looking forward to taking this unrivalled offering to the next level by driving deeper connections between brands and communities based on insights, a channel agnostic approach and creative and effective thinking.”

The appointment comes off the back of a number of significant new business wins in the past 12 months including Woolworths, Subway, BWS and Colgate.

Pooley takes up the role effective immediately.

As part of the agency transformation, PPR is also rolling out a new brand identity and positioning to clearly articulate its unique offering for clients. The positioning is founded upon the unrivalled insights based strategies and campaigns PPR can offer clients, developed by the agency’s team of consultants across its six-office network who live, work and play in communities across Australia and New Zealand.

Under the direction of newly appointed Director of Planning and Insights, Allan Dib, PPR’s clients will be able to access the insights required to build deep bonds with their target communities through effective communication campaigns.