News Corp has announced leadership appointments to its specialist content agency, Storyation. The agency will be led by general manager, Andrés López-Varela (left in lead image), and newly appointed commercial director, Simone Aquilina (right), following the decision of co-founders Mimi Cullen and Lauren Quaintance to depart the business.
Storyation was founded in 2013 by Cullen and Quaintance and soon established itself as a leading content agency in Australia and New Zealand, gathering accolades and blue-chip clients across travel, financial services, health, insurance and other categories. The agency was acquired by Medium Rare, a wholly-owned subsidiary of News Corp Australia, in December 2019.
López-Varela has led strategy, and recently operations for Storyation. He has more than a decade of experience in content marketing, with four years of senior leadership at Storyation, and before that, Tourism Australia, One Green Bean and Weber Shandwick.
Aquilina will lead the agency’s commercial and client partnership functions, having previous senior commercial and international rights leadership experience at Are Media (formerly Bauer Media and ACP) and the RACAT Group.
Of the announcements Medium Rare’s managing director Nick Smith said, “Andrés has developed a unique proposition for content marketers at Storyation, with our proprietary ‘content-demand research’, and high-performing digital and social strategies for clients. We’re proud to have Andrés lead Storyation’s next phase of success.
“Likewise, Simone’s credentials in leading multi-disciplinary teams for major media brands, will continue the strong commercial leadership and client service that’s been essential to Storyation’s success.
“Mimi and Lauren built Storyation into a sustainable business,” said Smith. “It’s been a pleasure to work alongside them over the past two and a half years.”
News Corp Australia’s managing director, commercial content, Mike Connaghan, added: “Storyation and its incredible team of strategists, content creators and client partners, is and will continue to be an important offering within our content marketing proposition to clients, alongside Medium Rare, Suddenly and Visual Domain.”
López-Varela said: “There’s strong momentum in the market for the kind of work we’ve done for many years under Mimi and Lauren’s direction. I’m looking forward to expanding our innovative portfolio of content and strategy assignments to deliver even more meaningful growth and some of the world’s best brand content.”
López-Varela has assumed his role of general manager, reporting to Smith. Aquilina joins Storyation on October 4, and will report to Medium Rare’s chief commercial officer, Fiorella di Santo.
