iris Sydney strengthens senior team snaring GPY&R Sydney group AD Sasha Firth for GM role

iris Sydney has snared GPY&R Sydney group account director Sasha Firth to the newly created role of general manager following a series of new business wins including the high profile Christchurch & Canterbury Tourism business.

Since opening its doors in Australia in 2008 iris has grown to over 50 people with offices in both Sydney and Melbourne. The integrated agency works with some of the biggest brands in Australia and New Zealand including Shell, adidas, Sony, Microsoft and Lonely Planet. Recent high profile campaigns include Shell’s V-Power ‘For What You Love’ and adidas’ 2012 All Blacks ‘The Game Continues’ campaign.

Firth brings with her 15 years of experience at agencies including Clemenger BBDO, BMF, Happy Soldiers and, since June last year, GPY&R Sydney, where she led accounts such as Colgate Palmolive, LG and Revlon. Based in Sydney, Firth will oversee key Sydney accounts including Sony and Microsoft, leading recent significant new business wins such as Christchurch & Canterbury Tourism.

Says Simon Porter, managing director of iris Australia: “Sasha is a key hire in iris Sydney’s development. We are in the middle of a really exciting period for the agency. Off the back of winning 7 out of 7 pitches we’re experiencing a period of unprecedented growth with some fantastic work set to go live in the second half of the year.

At the start of the year we set out on our growth plan with a recognition that we needed to invest in the best Australian talent. In the hire of Sasha, and the likes of Dan Pankraz who joined in February from M&C, we really believe we’re on the move and have extraordinary times ahead. Sasha was our No.1 target for this new role and will give us the firepower we need to take the agency into the future.”

Says Firth: “iris is a fantastic creative agency with a great international reputation and profile.  Joining the team at this point in the Sydney agency’s life is a brilliant opportunity and I hope to help contribute to the momentum Simon and everyone at the agency have built up over the last few years but especially this year – new business is the lifeblood of any agency and iris’ recent new business record speaks for itself.”

Firth has built a reputation as one of Australian advertising’s best young leaders. She has experienced success in all her previous roles and is highly rated within the Australian industry. Firth has led numerous high profile campaigns. Her former agency Happy Soldiers produced Tontine ‘Fresh Pillows’ campaign, which took out the Grand Effie in 2011.

iris’ Sydney office has been responsible for such acclaimed campaigns as ‘The Great DVD Amnesty’ for Sony featuring Jean Claude Van Damme and specialises in creating extraordinary ideas for brands which give extraordinary results.

The office is a key hub in iris’ expanding network that employs over 400 people across Asia Pacific, which includes offices in Singapore, Melbourne, Beijing, Shanghai, New Delhi and Jakarta.