alt/shift/ has announced promotions to its senior management team, with new roles for four of its leaders, following a year of consistent growth and new client wins.
Elly Hewitt, co-founder of the creative communications agency, has stepped into the role of national CEO leading Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane offices, with Sam Vassos and Andie Crawford moving into managing director roles of Melbourne and Sydney, respectively.
Returning from maternity leave this month, JJ McPherson has been promoted to general manager in Melbourne.
The appointments come off the back of continued growth following the launch of the Behaviour Change offering and new business wins, including Mondelez, Catch.com.au, Treasury Wine Estates and Tourism and Events Queensland’s project for the FIFA Women’s World Cup out of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane respectively.
See also: alt/shift/ announces the launch of its behaviour change offering
National CEO Hewitt said of the appointments: “our agency’s growth and client wins come down to the experience, creativity and capability of our team. I’m looking forward to seeing what our leadership team can achieve in our new roles.
“The appointments recognise their growth and success and importantly have created opportunities and pathways for our next generation of leaders to grow.”
“Our retention of staff is something we are incredibly proud of at alt/shift/ and it directly contributes to our phenomenal client retention track record. The two are inextricably linked and we know by delivering this new structure it will only further our continued success.
Vassos – one of alt/shift/’s co-founders – will work closely with JJ and the creative, strategic and social teams who are currently working alongside Boost Juice, TAC, AFL, Treasury Wine Estate Federation University and Bakers Delight.
Vassos explained: “When we entered the market in 2016 our point of difference was ensuring creative and strategic thinking underpinned all of our work, so we invested early in a team that could sit alongside our comms specialists to deliver campaigns anchored in this ethos.
“Flash forward seven years, our creative and strategy team has tripled, we have an in-house content production capability that allows us to conceive and execute integrated campaigns across all three offices.”
Crawford has spearheaded the growth of alt/shift/’s Sydney office, landing blue chip retained clients Mondelez, Air New Zealand, Grill’d and Boody.
Crawford said: “It’s been four years since we opened our Sydney office. From humble beginnings but with great ambition to deliver outstanding work in Australia’s largest market, alt/shift/ is now a respected agency in Sydney.
“The quality of work that we have delivered alongside the culture and initiatives we have developed and nurtured have led to a high-performing team of nine full-timers – and together we do work we love for clients we love.
“That could be working nationally with both Melbourne and Brisbane offices on clients like Officeworks or directly with Sydney clients. Our exceptional consumer and lifestyle credentials have served to establish us here in Sydney, with even more big names to come!”
McPherson – who joined alt/shift/ in 2017 – has moved through numerous roles before stepping into GM of Melbourne.
With a key focus on Melbourne and national consumer clients, she’ll continue to lead retained and project clients whilst working closely with the management team on the operations of the business.
alt/shift/’s long-term and retained clients include Mazda, Bakers Delight, Origin Energy, Mondelez, Air New Zealand and Officeworks, alongside projects with Department of Education, TAC, Federation University, MYOB, Keypath, AFLW, REA Group, Grill’d and Boody.
alt/shift/ has gone from strength to strength since being founded in Melbourne in 2016 by Hewitt and Vassos along with Richard Hayward and Anton Staindl, before expanding into Sydney in 2018 and Brisbane in 2022.
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Top image, left to right: Andie Crawford, Elly Hewitt, Sam Vassos and JJ McPherson