Creative agency, Yakkazoo, has hired Oliver James formerly of George P. Johnson Australia (GPJ) to lead its newly formed business department as Head of Client Engagement.
Over the course of his career, Mr James has secured multimillion dollar contracts with government, technology, pharmaceutical, automotive, property, finance, media and fashion with clients across Australia.
Mr James joins the team after two and a half years at GPJ as Head of Growth and Development for the company working with some of the world’s biggest brands. He says the strategic content creation of Yakkazoo combined with the ecosystem at VMG was a massive draw card, making him feel secure transitioning into a new role at a time where there is significant uncertainty in the industry.
“Our industry has been forced to rethink many of its core face-to-face offerings. I felt extremely confident making the move to Yakkazoo, as the team’s holistic approach to experiences and content, merging digital, physical and virtual experiences is ahead of the pack considering the direction the industry is moving in,” said Mr James.
“Over my time working in larger organisations across a number of areas including logistics sales and production, I’ve built a strong understanding of the end-to-end process for clients. I’m excited to bring my experience to the Yakkazoo team and head up the growth strategy for the new business development division,” he said.
Yakkazoo works with a range of brands including as Salesforce, Destination NSW and Sydney Opera House and has also undertaken a creative project, Well-Tuned, that supports mental wellness across the full spectrum of the creative industry.
“This newly created role and division proves our confidence in Yakkazoo’s ability to deliver and firms up our growth strategy for 2021. Oliver is a fantastic new addition, able to bring a young, fresh point of view to help the agency reach new markets and expand our current portfolio of clients,” said Yakkazzo Managing Director Mark Barrett.
The Well-Tuned concept series as part of an ongoing initiative to keep the industry connected and provide opportunity for conversations amongst creatives in the arts and performance sector.
“The arts and events space has been significantly impacted this year, and I am proud of the way our team as been able to think outside the box, as well as find time to create a space that can provide some wellbeing relief to our colleagues, peers and collaborators that are going through difficult times,” said Mr Barrett.
