Sydney, Australia — Ampel, an audio experience agency based in Australia, after a period of sustained development in the agency has named two new senior hires in their leadership team, appointing Stuart Buckland and Lauren Deighton to the newly created roles of director, audio production and director, media partnerships respectively with both appointments effective immediately.
Buckland holds extensive expertise with more than a decade of involvement in the media industry. Prior to joining Ampel, he worked at Channel 10, a flagship station in Sydney, where he was instrumental in launching the station’s ‘10 Speaks’ podcast platform, managing a team of producers, creating and executing the platform’s strategy.
During his time at Ch10, he produced the platform’s two biggest shows, ‘Where’s William Tyrrell?’ and ‘The Professor and The Hack.’Buckland was also named EP of the ’10 News First Person’ podcast, which won the Kennedy Award for Most Outstanding Podcast and the SA Press Club Award for Best Long-Form Radio Report or Podcast in 2020.
Buckland is responsible for leading Ampel’s physical audio production team in the creation of original podcasts and branded audio, ensuring clients’ assets can be leveraged across all paid, owned, and earned media.
Lauren Deighton brings more than a decade of national and international exposure to the audio agency working on both the agency and publisher side. She has led national and global client strategies and campaigns across top-value brands namely Google, Tourism Australia, Apple, Mondelez, Loreal, McDonald’s and Johnson & Johnson. Lauren has held various senior sales roles representing key clients at News Corp, The Urban List and VICE, and recently moved back from NYC where she held a role as brand partnerships director for a global SAAS company prior to joining Ampel.
Josh Butt, founder and executive producer of Ampel, commented that he was honoured to welcome such an experienced and skilled team to Ampel, with the duo being tasked with significantly increasing the agency’s scope of original content production capabilities as well as partnership & sponsorship support.
“Our clients are increasingly demanding more from the audio space and are looking for new ways to tap into this very lucrative marketing medium. When they look at statistics such as audio listening is growing 50+% YOY and the average Australian listens to more than 12 hours of audio per week, they know it’s the perfect mainstream format for consumers to experience interesting and entertaining content on demand. Audio audiences are sophisticated and demanding quality – podcasts that aren’t well made aren’t listened to,” Butt concluded.
These new signings are the first since the recruitment of Michelle Lomas, general manager of Ampel, in late 2021.
Lomas commented on the new hires, saying, “Lauren and Stuart bring the skills, capabilities and senior support to our team to help our clients take full advantage of what audio can offer their brands and audiences. With Lauren and Stuart on board, I can’t wait to hear what brilliant audio strategies, creations and partnerships we can now produce for our clients.”
Deighton also said, “Leading the way in the independent audio race is exactly where I expect Ampel to be and I’m delighted to be part of the team that will be responsible for bringing clients new opportunities in paid, owned and earned media within the podcast landscape; growing audiences and driving them to Ampel’s, and our client’s content. It’s a heady combination and I can’t wait to get started.”
Meanwhile, Buckland, also shared his thoughts, “Audio and voice are engaging avenues for brands to connect with consumers, and I’m excited to be working with brands to create audio eco-systems – from customer experience, B2B & B2C podcasts, smart home device skills, internal education and communication strategies and more. This is a great time to be in the industry and to help clients tap into the ever-growing format of audio.”
Buckland and Deighton’s appointments come on the cusp of Ampel significantly increasing its scope of original content production, including new comedy podcasts with high profile comedic talent; continued production of existing podcasts, brand funded podcasts, and production of brand funded TV shows.
