After a few years out of the business, Alison Hoad, one of advertising’s most respected and popular planning brains, has been lured back to take on the CSO role at Publicis.Poke. She will take over from Jo Arden, who moves to Ogilvy in April.
Hoad has been consulting for the last couple of years, having quit her previous full time role as CSO at BBH while away on compassionate leave.
She said: “Being away from the industry made me appreciate what I most loved about it – the collective endeavour, the creativity, and the contagious energy that comes from cracking truly great, impactful work. One of the things I’ve realised as a consultant is just how simple our business is. Fundamentally, to thrive it requires brilliant people, brilliant clients and brilliant ideas. I see all three at Publicis.Poke.”
John Hadfield, CEO of Publicis.Poke, said: “Alison is a proven world-class strategic and business leader, who has been around successful agencies and great and effective work throughout her career. I know that she has the ambition and energy to help build the next chapter for Publicis.Poke, our clients and our people.”
Before joining BBH, Hoad was at Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R for nearly 12 years, latterly as joint CEO and vice chair. Before that she was a founder of Omnicom-backed Campbell Doyle Dye, was a head of planning at Lowe, and was also part of the management team that launched Wieden+Kennedy in London. She started out at Procter & Gamble, managing Ariel and Vidal Sassoon.
