Bell is named London CEO as Noble and Wright take up global roles
Integrated marketing agency iris has announced three senior promotions as it plans to launch a new structure for its London operation. The current joint managing directors Steve Bell, Sam Noble and Adam Wright will take up the positions of chief executive of iris London, global executive planning director and global program director respectively.
iris London, which has grown at approximately 50% year on year, now employs over 300 people and says that the revised agency model will allow it to deliver integration in a far more client centric way, as the pace of growth, client mix, and scale and diversity of the business continues to increase.
Ian Millner, joint CEO and founder of iris Worldwide said, One of the most common pitfalls of agencies when they grow is that they loose their edge and spirit. This model will ensure that we continue to be as fresh, fast, proactive, valuable, accountable and client focused as we have been from day one.
The new model will consist of five houses that will each service up to five clients, with dedicated teams of creatives, planners and account handlers working under a managing partner and deputy creative director. The structure is aimed at creating better performing, more efficient teams, which behave like small agencies under the framework of a larger infrastructure.
A founding partner of the agency, which launched in 1999, Bell has played an important role in the development and growth of the London office and has been responsible for overseeing iris relationships with the COI, Brown Forman, Network Rail, Shell and Disney among others. He will now be charged with the overall running of iris London overseeing the five houses that have been created as well as responsibility for the creative, cultural and commercial delivery of the agency.
Bell said, iris London has grown from a handful of people to over 300 in just nine years, which is a unique situation in the agency scene. The 5 house structure will make it easier and more enjoyable to do brilliant integrated work by getting closer to our clients from an account handling, strategic and creative perspective.
We are increasingly working with new and existing clients at a strategic and channel neutral level, as brands are looking more closely than ever before at the potential value of integration and the revised agency model will allow us to deliver integration in a far more client centric way, Bell added.
Noble, also a founding partner of the agency, has to date been running the planning department, leading the investment in proprietary insight as well as overseeing a number of significant client relationships. In his new role as global executive planning director he will be responsible for driving the development, management and commercial application of planning and strategy to enhance the effectiveness and quality of iris work. Working across all iris agencies, both disciplines and territories, he will oversee a wide range of areas including consumer insight, account planning, communication planning, data and analytics, segmentation, digital strategy, direct strategy, retail strategy, measurement and evaluation.
Noble said, Brands are looking more closely than ever before at the potential value of integration. As a result, weve been building our strategic capabilities within the agency, including the recent acquisition of management consultancy firm, Concise and start up of a specialist Sponsorship strategy business under the wing of Peter Harris. My appointment is about accelerating this process of putting strategic capability at the heart of the agency and its relationships with our client partners all over the world.
Adam Wright, who joined iris in 2000 and worked on the Sony Ericsson pan-European business before becoming client services director and then joint managing director, will be responsible for spearheading the growth of the network across the globe and will head the imminent launch of a number of new offices across Europe.
For more information please contact:
Avril Canavan, + 44 (0)20 7654 7621 / +44 (0)7946416607
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About iris Worldwide:
iris Worldwide is an independent, integrated marketing micro-network working across all media and all disciplines. Working with an enviable roster of global clients that include Shell, Sony Ericsson, ING, adidas and Coca Cola, the agency is committed to Media Anything, Idea Everything a creative vision that encompasses iris interpretation of integrated marketing.
iris provides true integration through its group of specialist companies – iris Digital, iris Direct, iris Experience, iris PR, iris Consulting, iris Product and iris Concise.
iris prides itself on two key abilities; seeing the potential and exposing mediocrity. These two objectives have guided the agencys work since conception, combined with a concerted effort to be the best agency their clients have ever worked with, and the only agency that truly talented people want to work for.
In the UK iris has been ranked 7th Nationally by the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For 2008 and was named Agency of the Year 2008 by the MCCA.
Established in 1999 by Ian Millner and Stewart Shanley, iris has shown considerable development in the last nine years, now employing over 500 people globally. With offices in London, Manchester, New York, LA, Miami, New Delhi, Singapore and Sydney, iris is planning to further expand its independent global micro-network with more offices opening in the near future.