Red Engine adds three account directors and head of production following business wins

Digital creative and content marketing specialist Red Engine has made four senior hires to its growing agency following a period of organic and new business success.

The agency which has offices in Sydney and Melbourne has appointed three account directors – Lisa Wood, Gemma Ashdown and Yash Murthy as well as Lawrence Katsidis into the newly created position of head of production across Red Engine and its independently run video production arm Engine Room.

Red Engine counts Telstra, Commonwealth Bank, Jalna, Cordell, Metcash and Masterpet among its clients.

With more than 10 years experience in communications Wood will oversee the content marketing activity for Red Engine’s recently acquired Telstra business. She joins from video production company The Grindhouse where she was client director for more than two years. In addition she has held account director roles at Leo Burnett and The Zoo Republic and worked with clients including Red Bull, Google, Universal Music, Diageo and Canon.

Ashdown will manage Red Engine’s Metcash, Kimberly-Clark and Masterpet business after joining from The White Agency where as account director she worked on the Nestle and Toyota Financial Services accounts. She has also been a senior account manager and digital producer at Adrenalin Media.

Murthy has been hired to work on the Commonwealth Bank business and will also assist on Telstra. Before Red Engine he was a senior account manager at BMF and has also done stints at Droga5, Ogilvy & Mather and Noise Digital.

To help manage the growth across Red Engine and Engine Room, Katsidis has been hired as head of production. With more than 15 years experience in advertising creative management, he joins from Loud where he was creative services director for ten years and prior to that as creative services manager at Hulsbosch Design.

Says Julian Townley, founder and managing director of Red Engine: “The agency has enjoyed new business and organic growth from existing clients that see the importance of our strategy led approach when it comes to content marketing development and execution. This has enabled us to bring on more senior people to the business and in Lisa, Gemma and Yash we have three of the best. And we’ve realised it was time for a head of production to work across Red Engine and Engine Room and Lawrence Katsidis credentials and experience in this area are exemplary.”

Red Engine, which is now in its fifth year, recently moved to larger offices on Walker St in North Sydney in order to accommodate the increase in new business and further hires are expected in the coming months.

Says Townley: “Content marketing is evolving and as clients become more discerning and strategic in how they engage with their customers, our model which is founded on three pillars of strategy, content and creative is resonating with them.

(Pictured L-R: Lawrence Katsidis, Yash Murthy, Lisa Woods, Gemma Ashdown, Julian Townley).