Moves and changes: design industry news

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Household has appointed Kat McKinney as client services director. McKinney has over two decades of experience in brand and retail communication and activation, specialising in automotive, tech, alcohol and FMCG.

Jackson Ong has been hired as Elmwood’s new strategy director for its Singapore studio. Having previously worked as a senior strategist at Superunion and Cowan, Ong will use his experience to help clients work toward evolving their brands long term.

Siobhan O’Reilly has been appointed EMEA regional manager for collaborative design expert, Figma. With over 80% of Figma’s customers now based outside of the US, O’Reilly’s role will be include continuing Figma’s expansion and highlighting the importance of design to businesses globally.

Lancashire-based brand agency Studio Up North (SUN) has promoted Ya’Qub Mir to lead designer.  Mir joined SUN straight after completing his degree at Bolton University and has worked at the studio for almost four years.

Imagination has made its latest senior hire, appointing Helen Bellringer as associate creative director. She will be responsible for all creative digital output across Imagination UK.

Landor & Fitch has appointed Chris Moody as global executive creative director. He will join the global creative leadership team working across Landor & Fitch’s studios in more than 20 countries, based out of the London studio

Elephant has appointed Chris Hayes as vice president of product design. The former Tonal, Nike, and R/GA executive will be responsible for leading Elephant’s product design team and working with founding client Apple as well as other brands in the Web3 and QSR spaces. Hayes will also spearhead the studio’s creative boot camp for BIPOC students, Elephant XD Academy.

Brand design agency Brand Consultants has made four new hires. Its new client partner Richard Colson joins from BrewDog, where he was head of brand and marketing of the distilling division. Previously global strategy and innovation manager at No7 skincare, Emma Godman will assume the role of senior brand strategist. James Brown has been appointed as a designer and Katie Rowley has joined as design director.

Manchester-based brand-led design and digital agency BGN has grown its senior leadership team following the appointment of Louise Kennedy as its new head of strategy. Kennedy has joined the business from Brandon Consultants where she worked for four years. Prior to that she held in-house insight and strategic planning roles for 20 years, including at Kellogg’s, Kerry Foods and MyTravel.

Brand activation agency Zeal Creative has hired creative leader John Treacy as its first ever executive creative director. He will be based out of the London office and work across the agency’s client base which includes Nestlé, Kellogg’s, Carlsberg and Lucozade.

Nancy Lan has joined the team at Territory Studio as co-president of creative advertising. Using knowledge from her time at Netflix as creative marketing executive, Lan will aim to strengthen the studio’s stake in the entertainment industry.

Consultancies

Mr B & Friends has acquired brand strategy and identity agency FutureKings, which specialises in supporting start-up and scale-up businesses. This is part of its plan to capitalise on increased demand for brand strategy work in the SME division.

Emperor is opening a new office in central Birmingham in a bid to offer a more personalised service to clients in the Midlands area. The new office is Emperor’s fifth hub, joining London, Edinburgh, Manchester and Dubai.

Carter Wong design studio has joined strategy agency The Value Engineers alongside advertising creative agency Neil A Dawson & Company. The Value Engineers CEO says: “With Carter Wong and Neil A Dawson & Company onboard we now have full design and advertising capabilities to offer new and existing clients.”