IPG’s Initiative has restructured its partnerships department boosting its leadership team and promoting Daniela Rocchi (main photo) to head of partnerships Sydney and Justin Arlt (pictured below) to head of partnership Melbourne.
Both previously partnership directors, Rocchi and Arlt will report directly to national head of partnerships, Simon Reid in their new roles.
Commenting on the promotions Reid said: “Given Initiative’s current rapid growth rate, now is the perfect time to restructure our partnerships team, providing huge benefits to our existing clients and allowing for continued agency growth.
“I am extremely proud of both Daniela and Justin and the fact we can promote within is testament to the tremendous talent we have at Initiative. Both are masters of their craft, high level negotiators, have built strong senior relationships in their respective markets and have been delivering year on year results for our clients. They both have extensive experience on a broad range of categories and will build formidable teams to benefit our clients.”
Initiative has recently added IAG, Afterpay, Sukin, QUEST, Repco + organic growth from existing client base to its roster.
Supporting Sydney’s MD, Jo McAllister, Rocchi’s immediate remit is to lead the investment and partnerships across the Sydney market bringing a genuine passion for investment to deliver the best results for clients.
Having spent a decade at Initiative, Rocchi has been a stalwart in the agency’s transformation diving into every aspect of the business and proving herself to be a brilliant client adviser and an important partner to media vendors.
With past experience working across IPG Mediabrands both locally and internationally, Arlt brings his inspirational leadership skills to the Melbourne business. A master of his craft, he has been intimately involved in numerous Melbourne pitch wins and instrumental in rolling out several key internal processes.
On her promotion Rocchi said: “Initiative is such an incredible agency where I have been able to advance my career and have the pleasure of working with amazingly talented people. I could not be happier to be moving into a role that I am extremely passionate about. What I love most about this role is that I will be building my industry relationships into strong partnerships and training our workforce whilst keeping the Initiative culture at the forefront of everything I do.”
Arlt commented: “We have an incredibly talented bunch at Initiative and I’m delighted to be moving into a role where I’ll have the opportunity to work across the broader agency and get involved in the amazing work being produced. I’m particularly excited to be working through the next evolution of our Partnerships learning and development program which will help our teams build stronger relationships with our partners to deliver more meaningful results for our clients.”
Reid concluded: “It is amazing to be able to promote amazing talent from within the business. In Justin and Daniela we have a heady combination of an amazing work ethic, great attitude, and unbelievable media relationships across Australia’s key markets, Sydney and Melbourne. I can’t wait to see the newly revamped partnership division exceed all my expectations under their watch.”
The new roles are effective immediately.
