Initiative Melbourne hires Starcom Melbourne’s Sérgio Brodsky to new head of strategy role

One of Australia’s leading media strategists and commentators Sérgio Brodsky has been appointed head of strategy for Initiative Melbourne, a new position at the agency. He is previously strategy director for Starcom Melbourne and he starts with Initiative this week.

Brodsky is an internationally experienced brand marketing professional and a scholar of prestigious The Marketing Academy. He is formerly the worldwide strategist for WPP’s brand consultancy Brand Union in London where he worked on the global repositioning of HSBC as well as producing award-winning work for clients across the FMCG, professional services, education and not-for-profit categories.

He later joined Starcom London, working in the global business unit for Procter & Gamble and responsible for strategy development across beauty and feminine care categories. That was followed by his move to Australia to join Interbrand where he led the winning tender for Heinemann to be the Duty-Free operator for Sydney Airport, a rebranding of Yellow Pages and the Myer Family Company.

He moved on to OMD where he was the strategy lead for RMIT, Dulux, RACV, Oakley and Bupa. At Starcom Melbourne he has led strategy on winning pitches for MYOB; Lumo Energy and Kraft Heinz.

Brodsky is also an internationally published author, columnist and speaker. He started his career as an intellectual property lawyer in his native Brazil and holds  an MBA in global brand strategy and innovation.

Says Tristan Burrell, chief strategy officer, Initiative Australia: “We’re focusing very strongly on the Melbourne market and looking forward to having Sergio’s creative and strategic thinking working with our clients and agency teams. He’s truly a first class professional with broad experience in many aspects of media communications.”

Says Brodsky: “I am very grateful to Starcom and the opportunities it has provided, but also incredibly excited with my move to Initiative. People are the secret sauce of success and after meeting with Tristan Burrell and Australia CEO Mel Fein, I have no doubt that Initiative is well set up to game-change the industry and positively impact the brands it serves.”