WPP AUNZ-owned public relations agency PPR has announced the appointment of Allan Dib as director of planning and insights to help clients better connect with the communities they are wanting to reach.

After more than 20 years overseas, Dib is returning to Melbourne to work with PPR’s six teams across Australia and New Zealand to deliver deeper insights, apply further rigour to planning and strategy development, and continue to build the agency’s creative output.

Dib has been recognised by Holmes Report as a top 25 innovator in PR for his work in planning and insights, and was instrumental in developing the insights and communication strategies for the most awarded campaign in 2016, Always’ #LikeAGirl.

Most recently, Dib led the strategy and analytics team in New York and London for W2O Group. He has also held senior planning roles at MSLGROUP and MediaCom, and senior roles at research house GfK.

Michael Pooley, chief operating officer at PPR, said: “Understanding how communities live, work and play is the fundamental foundation of effective communications.

“If you don’t understand how they think, why they behave in the way they do, their passions, their challenges, their channel consumption mix you can’t expect to build campaigns that people care about.

“Allan joining the team is a clear demonstration of our commitment to building an agency offering based on deep insights about the communities we help clients connect with.”

Commenting on the new role, Dib said: “It’s great to be home and joining PPR at a very exciting time for the agency and the wider WPP AUNZ group as they drive greater integration to support their clients’ needs.

“PPR’s connection and knowledge of communities is already strong by virtue of its breadth of clients and network of offices across Australia and New Zealand.