Starcom Australia appoints Graeme Wood as media agency’s new national strategy director

Starcom Australia has today announced the appointment of Graeme Wood to the role of national strategy director.

Wood joins Starcom from m2m Media where he was head of strategy. He has more than 12 years experience in the media industry and has also previously worked with OMD in strategy and led the agency’s successful pitch for Frucor last year.

Born in the UK, Wood was also strategy director for Europe on the Mondelez account at Carat Global, responsible for communications strategy, media innovation and marketing effectiveness for clients Oreo, Philadelphia, Trident and Halls, among others. He has worked at media and digital agencies across clients in the FMCG, travel, finance, fashion and telecommunications categories, and was on the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising’s social media and training committees.

Says Toby Barbour, CEO, Starcom Australia: “Wood brings a valuable skill set and unique mix of experience across digital content, data and social to lead and shape strategy for Starcom’s clients. In my new role as national CEO, Graeme’s appointment is another important step in building a skilled team to drive consumer experiences and business performance for our clients’ brands.”

Says Wood: “I’ve been really impressed with the new model that Publicis Media is developing, with strong agency brands supported by deep capabilities in insights, technology and content. I’m hugely excited about helping to shape that vision for Starcom. My experience in media and digital agencies, which has always focused on solving business problems by ensuring that messy, social, irrational humans are at the heart of long term planning, is a natural fit for the next stage of the human experience agency.”

Wood’s appointment is effective immediately. He replaces Chris Vance who has joined the Starcom global leadership team as senior vice president, global organisation design.