Telstra have announced the appointment of IAG’s Brent Smart as their new chief marketing officer, starting from September 1st.
Smart (pictured above) will be taking over the role from Jeremy Nicholas, who has been assigned the digital channels executive role at Telstra.
Smart brings to the table his years of experience within the industry, having previously worked in the United States as CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi and managing director at San Francisco’s BBDO.
He came back to Australia in 2017, spending the last five years of his career working as a chief marketing officer for the Insurance Australia Group (IAG), helping transform it into the powerhouse that it is today (number five in Brand Finance Australia’s report for July.)
Speaking about the new appointment, Telstra’s group executive of consumer and small business, made the following statement: “Brent is a highly accomplished creative and commercial leader with a passion for people and storytelling, coupled with a wealth of global experience from working with some of the world’s biggest brands.”
“Brent’s appointment comes at a natural inflection point as we complete our T22 transformation and embark on our new T25 strategy. Telstra plays a critical role in keeping Australians connected and we’re looking forward to seeing how Brent continues to strengthen the Telstra brand through his work.”
“I’d also like to thank and congratulate Jeremy Nicholas for his exceptional work as our CMO over the last four years – a transformational period for Telstra’s marketing team, during which he also led the hugely successful Australia is Why brand campaign. Jeremy will now bring his deep customer expertise, rich insight and customer focus to our digital channel experiences.”
At Telstra, Brent will be responsible for Telstra’s brand; media; sponsorship and award programs; consumer, small business and enterprise marketing and proposition development; marketing automation and internal design studio.
Following the news of his new role, Smart made the following comment: “There aren’t many Australian brands that can play as big a role in culture as Telstra. You can feel a real positive momentum in the business, it’s an exciting time to join and I can’t wait to get stuck in.”
