Move of the Week: Guy Donnelly, Found
Guy Donnelly, former head of SEO at marketing agency 20:20, has been appointed by digital agency Found to lead its SEO and social division. He’ll be responsible for setting the search optimisation and social strategies across the agency’s client roster, including Lastminute.com, Vodafone and the Post Office. Prior to his position at 20:20, Donnelly was an SEO strategist at Profero London.
What attracted you to this role?
I come from a designer/developer background and very early on, I took an interest in SEO and then social media. My experience has shown me that being able to deliver a clearly defined strategy involves hands-on knowledge of the anatomy and growth of a website and how it maintains a strong presence. You can only create the perfect natural search strategy when you understand each area and how they impact and influence each other. Found’s ability to deliver strategic performance marketing campaigns across a wider mix of digital channels really sets it apart. I want to build on its innovative reputation to deliver even more strategic and ground-breaking campaigns.
What will your responsibilities be?
I ‘ll be responsible for setting the SEO and social media strategies for all clients. The team here already thinks outside the box to ensure campaigns are being maximised. It’ll be my job to nurture more of this innovative thinking and enable our clients to achieve better results faster, while delivering to strict KPIs. One of the greatest challenges of managing social media channels in multiple languages is keeping track of how fast information can spread. Bad comments can show up in search results and impact your brand reputation. Being able to keep track of this in many languages can be tricky. However, having the right expertise ensures this process can be managed well and a client’s social presence is well received.
What project are you most proud of in your previous job?
I’m very proud of the SEO and social media strategy I created for a well-known broadband provider, which had such a positive impact on the company as a whole. As a result, the brand was able to recover from a decision to close the business. I was able to save the brand and the jobs that were to be lost had the company gone under.
What do you think are the most exciting developments in the industry at the moment?
The confirmation that Google and Bing are using social media to help ranking confirms that it needs to be a key part of SEO. SEO itself is also changing, which means more than ever it needs a clear voice within the social media space to become a leading channel. Great SEO and a clever bespoke social media strategy has also helped to drive significant sales and leads to my clients, providing excellent ROI. The integration of these channels is the key to success and presents a challenge for the entire digital marketing sector to adopt more common practices to ensure ROI remains a priority alongside future growth.
We’ve already experienced a considerable shift in SERPs with the inclusion of maps, products, vouchers and live results. As Facebook acquires more data andfunctionality, and Twitter further positions itself as the real-time search hub, social sites are seeking to break into the traditional search space. The future is therefore very much about real-time interaction and information on demand.
Other moves
Agency G2 Joshua has hired former digital strategist at Sony Pictures Entertainment Tom Eldridge as digital planner. In his previous role he was responsible for theatrical and home entertainment campaigns.
Mike Davison, MD of creative agency 1000heads, is joining its US office as CEO. He will be tasked with driving the agency’s growth in North America from its New York office.
Mobile film company Mofilm has appointed Jon Landau as chairman of its advisory board. Landau is an Oscar-winning producer whose credits include Titanic and Avatar.
Integrated agency Blackbridge has recruited Robert Newham as digital strategy director. He will lead digital communications and marketing projects for clients including BAA and Care UK. He joins from brand agency Uffindell.
Direct and digital agency Wunderman has hired Lena Robinson as new business director. She’ll work alongside Brendan Tansey, CEO of Wunderman UK. Robinson was business development director for Neue Media.
Online games company Bigpoint has hired Arthur Bastings as joint-CEO alongside the company’s founder Heiko Hubertz. Bastings was previously MD EMEA of Discovery Networks and has held senior positions at Turner Broadcasting and MTV Networks Europe.
Tom Wormald joins full-service market research company ICM Research as research director. Prior to his appointment he was at the COI, initially as a strategic analyst then as an engagement consultant.
Email agency eCircle has appointed Matt Clarke (far left) as director of operations and professional services. He was user experience communications manager at BP. Susanne Schmid also joins the agency’s London office as client services director. She was at Microsoft Advertising where she was responsible for the Atlas Advertiser product.
Ad software company Brighter Option has appointed Randall Lloyd as MD of North America to head its new office in San Francisco. He was senior VP of sales at social entertainment company RockYou.
