Global chief marketing officer Luke Robinson and local managing director Danika Johnston are among seven sales and marketing roles impacted by the closure.
Socially conscious social media company WeAre8 has closed its Australian office and made seven sales and marketing staff redundant.
WeAre8’s marketing function has been led from Australia by global CMO Luke Robinson.
B&T understands this function will now shift to the UK where WeAre8 is headquartered.
Danika Johnston, who joined WeAre8 in 2022 as chief commercial officer and was elevated to managing director a year ago, is also leaving the business.
Both Robinson and Johnston are seasoned industry executives who have previously held senior roles at the likes of Nine, TikTok, SBS, Bauer, Sony and more.
The Australian office closure has been announced almost a year after former APAC CEO and global growth officer Lizzie Young left the business.
WeAre8 founder Zoe Kalar said the WeAre8 app will continue to operate in Australia.
“We are at a point of radical transformation in both the social media and advertising industries globally, and I wanted to let you know that I am directly available if you would like my perspective or comments on any related articles,” Kalar said.
“As a result of the momentum in the UK, Europe, and the US, we are centralising the marketing functions into our London HQ and will no longer have any full time employees in Australia. We are grateful for the amazing work our team in Australia has done over the last two years.
“The business and app in Australia remain fully open and we continue to provide value and support to our brand clients, agencies, communities, publishers, impact partners and Citizens in Australia. We are also in discussions with key media partners to accelerate local sales across our existing and new products.”
Kalar said this includes WeAre8’s in-app programmatic ad delivery, its CPM feed and ‘Golden 8’ publisher ad network, which enables more than 10 million Australian citizens to watch an ad on Premium Publisher websites, while sharing economics with Publishers and Charities.
