Ex-Marketforce and West Australian News account manager Chris Billings has taken on a key role as agency lead with the new Blaze Agency in Perth.

A well-known WAFL Perth player, Billings has well and truly bounced the ball at the new agency, working with foundation client JLL on a number of fresh projects, and discussing several opportunities with prospective clients that should bolster the local agency’s roster even further.

Blaze is a new entrant to the advertising and marketing industry in WA, but has been in Australia for close to 20 years, and has significant expertise in the retail, automotive and property sectors. As part of a broad network of companies owned by British multinational WPP that includes Y&R Global and VML, Billings is excited about the strength of what Blaze can offer prospective clients. 

“Blaze is backed by WPP, an organisation that’s one of the world’s largest communication companies. That allows us to tap into some formidable resources. In terms of deep brand knowledge, what Blaze can offer to Western Australian clients is quite incredible. Through the Y&R Brands network, we have research intelligence on some 44,000 brands, along with discussions with some 700,000 individuals globally. This is material that could give many WA companies a real winning edge.”

Adding further strength, Blaze Perth is backed by WPP ‘sister’ agency, Professional Public Relations (PPR) – who deliver an integrated solution for their clients under one roof including strategy, creative, client management, digital, production and media under one roof, but also leverages PPR’s core capabilities – which include media relations, issues and crisis management, investor relations and government relations.

Blaze Australia CEO, Leanne Krstevski said: “We’re delighted to welcome Chris to the Blaze leadership team. He’s been a part of the Perth industry for many years and that hasn’t gone unnoticed by us. He’ll be bringing considerable expertise and insights to Blaze – and in turn we’re looking forward to working closely with him to offer our client partners strategic marketing solutions locally in Perth, as well as build on our strong creative and digital competencies in this market.”

As Blaze Australia’s Executive CD, Patrick Rychner noted: “With Chris at the helm we’re excited by the prospect of developing some really engaging creative work – as well as some first class web and mobile based projects for WA companies. WA is a really active and unique market – one that’s quite unlike any other, so we’re very interested in bringing some concepts to life that are equally different.”