Following the launch of its Ideas People Choose positioning and significant client wins in Melbourne and Sydney, national PR and creative agency Keep Left is turning up the dial on its Sydney presence by appointing Katarina Farrell to the newly created role of Managing Director – Sydney.
Katarina joins Keep Left from Herd MSL where she most recently held the position of Chief Growth Officer. She brings more than 18 years of communications experience working with national and international brands including American Express, Cancer Council Australia, and Commonwealth Bank as well as numerous State and Federal Government Departments.
CEO and Founder Caroline Catterall said, “The stars have really aligned in terms of the growth momentum we’re experiencing nationally, and particularly in Sydney right now, and with someone as proven as Kata joining the agency.
“Appointing a Sydney-based market leader comes after a 12-month search to find the right person to shape, lead and grow the Keep Left brand in Sydney, and lead the fast-growing existing team.”
Keep Left has experienced significant growth in the past six months since launching Ideas People Choose which applies an earned lens not just to PR, but the entire marketing mix.
New client wins include a mix of retained and project work across private and public sector clients, including two significant national wins, based out of Sydney and yet to be announced, supporting the need for someone of Kata’s calibre and depth of experience on the ground. Nationally, the Keep Left team comprises 45 staff.
“Kata is just super impressive in every dimension,” Catterall added. “We share a desire to create one Keep Left brand that resonates nationally and delivers clever, creative, and effective communications attracting the very best clients and talent along the way.”
Katarina Farrell said, “A large part of my agency career has been spent working in an Indie where I was able to play a key role in building and scaling the business, ahead of its sale to a global creative group. It’s so exciting to be back in an Indie and with such a clear mandate to shape and grow Keep Left in Sydney – this time in partnership with Caz and Gill.
“I’m seriously impressed by the sophistication of Keep Left and the work the team has done to fuse advertising and PR thinking as part of Ideas People Choose, which really shows in the quality of the strategic and creative offering.”
Gillian Gosling, Managing Partner and co-owner of Keep Left said, “It was a major focus of our strategic plan to appoint a leader in Sydney that brought complementary but different skills to the table and we’ve found that in Kata. We feel confident the Sydney business is in great hands and I’m pumped about what the three of us can achieve with the support of the management team.