Slingshot Media and its content and creative arm, onesmoothstone, have restructured to meet the demands of a converging media environment with creative at its core.
The move comes as both Slingshot and onesmoothstone win new business including Standards Australia, Pacific Smiles, Capilano Manuka and Inspirations Paint.
As part of the changes a new executive and senior leadership team has also been installed to drive client and agency growth by capitalising on critical thinking skills across media and creative. Jane Waterhouse, general manager of onesmoothstone and former GM of Are Media, becomes managing director of Slingshot working alongside CEO Simon Rutherford and CIO, Simon Corbett.
Picture (L to R): Simon Corbett, Jane Waterhouse, Simon Rutherford.
Lisa Overall, a 12-year Slingshot veteran and former head of strategy, becomes head of product and analytics, a newly created role to harness the commercial opportunities of both agencies. Molly Blacker, former strategy director at Slingshot, who has been with the agency for more than five years, has been promoted to head of creative and strategy for both Slingshot and onesmoothstone. Former Slingshot senior strategist, Sophie Gallagher, has been promoted to creative strategy director across both agencies.
Simon Rutherford said: “Any media professional knows creative has the greatest impact on the effectiveness of any brand campaign, especially in video. Today a media agency is closest to the data and analytics that informs creative performance and optimises the strong assets. Along with our sought after strategic media and audience critical thinking, the new structure benefits our clients and their creative partners as we deliver more diagnostics on performance with the aim of making the creative and content dollar work harder.”
Standards Australia has appointed Slingshot for media strategy, planning and buying following a competitive pitch. Standards Australia is the nation’s peak non-government, not-for-profit standards organisation that develops standards for Australian businesses and people.
Simon Corbett said: “Most people are completely unaware that thousands of standards are keeping them safe every day. They support the wheels of industry to turn and we will help raise its profile. We love an unsung hero here at Slingshot, so, it’s a delight to work alongside Standards Australia to help raise its profile in particularly its online eCommerce platform Standards Store.”
Anna Vuong, head of eCommerce, Standards Australia added: “The next year will be a big one for the Store as we look to raise awareness of standards in key industries and meet the access needs of end-users. It was clear right from the onset that Slingshot were the agency to help us achieve this goal.”
Slingshot and onesmoothstone have also been appointed by Pacific Smiles Group, which operates over 120 dental centres nationally, to manage media and creative. Capilano Manuka has selected onesmoothstone for creative, brand and content strategy, while Inspirations Paint has appointed Slingshot and onesmoothstone for content strategy and digital planning and buying.
Slingshot was also recently named eighth in this year Best Places to Work list. Rutherford added: “You have to work hard to maintain a great culture, it’s not easy, so it’s all the more satisfying for us to be in the top 20, three years running and now the top 10.”
