Keep Left appoints Proximity alum Mike Doman to general manager – creative and content

(Pictured L-R: Caroline Catterall, Mike Doman, Blair Kimber)

Independent agency Keep Left has appointed Mike Doman into the newly created role of general manager – creative and content.

As GM, Doman will lead Keep Left’s creative agency with responsibilities for strategic planning, digital, social, content and creative.

Along with the broader management team, he will be responsible for the growth and continued evolution of Keep Left’s creative offering, which has blossomed under ECD Blair Kimber’s leadership on key clients such as ANZ, Openpay and Charter Hall.

Keep Left’s creative approach brings together a diverse mix of experienced thinkers across creative, strategy, content, digital and PR to develop ideas that get talked about and drive real impact.

Doman returns to Australia following three-years at Proximity Worldwide in Germany, where he helped shape the agency’s digital, experience, media, social and technology teams during a period of significant growth, while overseeing a client portfolio including Porsche, Amazon and Unilever. Prior to this, he spent six-years at CHE Proximity in Melbourne in a mix of strategic and creative roles, working across clients including Telstra, Mazda and Latitude Financial.

Says Caroline Catterall, CEO, Keep Left: “Mike is thoroughly energised by the challenge of shaping and building agencies, so we couldn’t be more excited to have him join the team at this important time, as we embark on a new three-year strategy.

“Mike’s breadth of experience across strategy and creative, and an understanding of PR and content marketing from early in his career, made him the standout candidate for us. The stars really aligned that he was planning to return to Australia and we’d built the business to a point where it presented the right opportunity for him.

“We’ve already navigated international time zones, flight cancellations and the Wi-Fi at Howard Springs – and everyone is still smiling – so I’m excited to see what we can achieve together.”

Adds Doman: “Keep Left is an agency with a huge ambition and the team has the talent to deliver on the vision. The opportunity for independent agencies in Australia is huge right now and – more than ever for advertising and content work – the need to earn attention, and not just pay for it, has never been more important.

“Keep Left’s heritage in earned media and PR – when combined with a crazy smart team that is experienced in advertising, editorial and digital – puts the agency in a front row seat to make seriously impactful work. The team is also genuinely nice, which is a major bonus.”

Since joining Keep Left, Doman has collaborated with Kimber and the wider management team on developing Keep Left’s new brand positioning to be launched in early 2022, while getting his teeth stuck into clients.