UK HIRES FOR CITRUS

Melbourne digital agency Citrus has appointed two new senior hires to boost its digital expertise emanating from the progressive UK market and further its goal to become Australia’s leading digital agency.

Craig Stuart (pictured) joins as art director within its creative team following five years freelancing for agencies in Australia and the UK including Leo Burnett, Clemenger Blue, Venus Advertising and Freeform Advertising. During this time he developed fully integrated brand and retail campaigns for Carlton Draught, NAB, Loreal, Garnier and Myer. While in the UK Stuart freelanced for agencies including Joshua, Grey Interactive, RMG Blackcat and JWT, executing integrated campaigns for Mercedes Benz and Vodaphone 3G.

Stuart will work across Citrus’ key clients including Sportsgirl, Borders, Victoria Racing Club, and STA Travel.

Tim White joins Citrus as senior relationship manager within its client services team.

Previously White was corporate strategic partnerships manager for UK department store John Lewis where he developed and managed the retailer’s digital strategy. Prior to John Lewis, White worked with Australian digital agency the Eclipse Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Deloitte as an integrated marketing consultant.

White will manage Citrus’ major accounts including Borders, STA Travel and Primelife.

Peter Noble, CEO of Citrus, said the recent appointments continue Citrus’ deliberate approach to hire international talent and build its expertise in retail branded ecommerce and relationship marketing.

“Both Craig and Tim have fantastic experience in one-to-one communications and retail branded ecommerce, which is far more developed as a channel in the UK and closely aligns with our service offerings. They share our digital approach in the branded ecommerce arena and will enable us to engage with clients in a much more strategic way, and elevate our thinking as a company.

“They also understand our client engagement model, which is very relationship-oriented and mirrors many of the bigger UK digital agencies. We’ve found that we’re talking the same language as talent with UK experience, which makes us attractive to them as well.

“Craig will provide a creative backbone for Citrus’ digital model, while Tim will be instrumental in deepening our strategic engagement with clients.

“With a solid blend of brand and direct response experience, Craig will elevate our creative ability to build deeper and more meaningful multi-channel consumer experiences that not only build brand awareness and loyalty, but deliver results where they count,” Noble said.

Noble added the agency aims to more than double in size from 30 to over 70 staff over the next two years by leveraging its specialist online retail, branded ecommerce and relationship marketing capability.