Purple promotes top talent, names first Chief Innovation Officer

Purple, one of Australasia’s leading strategic communications agencies, has announced a number of internal promotions including the appointment of digital expert Ruth Callaghan to the newly created role of Chief Innovation Officer.

Ms Callaghan will continue to work with clients, with a dual focus on assessing innovative strategies and services as well as developing new opportunities to strengthen both Purple’s and our clients’ digital and data-driven solutions.

Purple’s Managing Director Warrick Hazeldine said the creation of the Chief Innovation Officer role was driven by the pace of disruption in the way businesses and leaders communicate.

“The one certainty for all businesses today – whether public or private, big or small – is the impact of technology on the pace, form and channels of communication,” he said.

“The ability to embrace these changes and to harness disruptive forces to help communicate faster and more effectively is the new normal. So too is understanding the road ahead, and rapidly assessing, then adopting or discarding the right technologies for your business.

“Ruth is a futurist. She is an outstanding innovator, communicator, and design-thinker who applies curiosity, creativity and disruptive thinking to her work at Purple. Both the agency and our clients have experienced the benefits she brings, particularly in the social listening and sentiment tracking, data analytics and digital media space.”

Purple has also announced a number of other promotions across the wider team.

Highly respected media adviser Peter Klinger has been promoted to Director of Media Strategy. Mr Klinger’s new role will see him lead Purple’s media-advisory practice.

Long-serving senior advisor Caroline Thomson rejoins the Corporate Affairs team as a Director after spending a number of years leading Purple’s business development function.

Kristy Havelberg has been promoted to Manager of Business Development and Marketing, Lauren Pow has been promoted to Consultant in the Corporate Affairs team and Sarah-Jane Dabarera moves into the Account Services Co-ordinator role.

Mr Hazeldine said the promotions reflected Purple’s continued growth and its policy of supporting the development and career aspirations of its people while meeting the needs of clients.

“We pride ourselves on hiring the best people to create a practice that delivers outstanding results for both our clients and for the Company,” he said.

“The calibre of our team and the excellent work they do ensure we start and shape the conversations that matter. These promotions are recognition of the impact our team generates for our clients and their tremendous commitment and contribution to Purple’s success.”

For full biographies of the Purple team, please visit https://purple.au/our-people/.