OMD has today announced the promotion of Amanda Watts from head of Telstra to general manager, OMD Sydney.
This newly created role bolsters the local leadership offering and reflects OMD’s commitment to delivering a sustainable structure that continues to provide the right level of coverage and leadership for its clients and people.
The change in structure is consistent with OMD’s policy of senior executive impact across all clients and is a function of growth in OMD Sydney – Australia’s largest media office. This includes the most recent new business wins of Canva and Greencross Ltd. The agency is also home to clients such as Telstra, Suncorp, McDonald’s, Tabcorp, NSW Government, Qantas, Estee Lauder Companies and Apple.
Kim Hamilton, managing director OMD Sydney, said: “Adding a General Manager to OMD Sydney’s bench strength enables the breadth of leadership required to ensure all clients continue to be serviced to the highest standards, by having executive leadership working within their businesses, not just across them. The new role is testament to the phenomenal success and growth that we have experienced recently, and Amanda is absolutely the right person for the job.”
Watts is a longstanding OMDer and an accomplished leader in the communications industry with over 25 years’ experience in agency roles across Australia and Singapore. She has worked on an extensive client base across a number of categories including telecommunications, banking, consumer electronics, alcoholic bevarages, beauty and skincare.
Laura Nice, managing director OMD Sydney, added: “Amanda’s passion for people, leadership style and experience in building teams that deliver to clients’ needs will be something that will drive OMD Sydney to even greater heights. Amanda’s depth of experience is already proving to be of value to the wider National Executive team of which she is the newest member.
Watts said of her new role: “I’m so thrilled to join the executive team to help drive the future growth of OMD Sydney. It’s such an exciting time to be in the media industry, as we navigate ourselves and clients through a changing landscape of evolving issues across areas such as data privacy, legislative changes and sustainability. In addition, we’re in a world which has accelerated trends in remote working, e-commerce and automation. I look forward to bringing my passion for people and culture to this role, helping steer the team to achieve future success.”
Watts’s appointment is effective from November 1. She will remain as head of Telstra until her replacement is announced and then move to executive lead on the account. As GM, she will report into Kim Hamilton and Laura Nice, joint Managing Directors, OMD Sydney.
