Tag: Organic Pacific

Sydney, Australia – Global entertainment company VA Media has appointed Organic Pacific and Havas to support its ambitions to grow within the APAC region and internationally. 

Organic Pacific and Havas’ area of responsibility includes the development of a global strategy, international brand profiling, and an industry event approach for VA Media. 

The win for the Havas-owned agencies is another in a string of recent wins for the Group.

VA Media is an Australian-based, ad-supported video on demand (AVOD) network and an enterprise partner of YouTube in the APAC region. Its flagship YouTube channels include Movie Central, True Crime Central, Horror Central, We Are Pride, and Documentary Central.

Partnering with leading studios, major film companies, and distribution businesses, VA Media connects content creators with audiences to monetise their content across YouTube, Facebook, SNAP and other AVOD streaming platforms. 

The agency appointments follow a series of high-profile internal hires, with Isabella Ronzel, previously working as network partnerships manager at News Corp Australia, now joining as head of brand marketing and commercial partnerships. Kristen Bedno was also onboarded as the head of content partnerships  and acquisitions for North America in March this year to expand the footprint in the US. Lastly, Hannah Barnes, a former Foxtel executive who joined in 2021 as Director of Unscripted, is now also managing VA’s newly created original production arm. 

Mark Ashbridge, CEO at VA Media, said, “VA Media works side by side with the best creative talent to create, curate and optimise great content, achieving proven and quantifiable results. We’re excited to appoint Organic and the Havas Network to assist our ambitious growth plans and inform the industry about VA Media in the Asia Pacific region and globally.”  

Meanwhile, Annabelle Gigliotti, managing partner at Organic Pacific, said, “VA Media is enjoying exceptional success in the evolving AVOD landscape and team Organic are looking forward to working with VA Media on promoting its global brands. This space is growing exponentially and with watch-time hours on owned and operated channels of over 270 million hours in the last 365 days, equal to over 30,000 years of content consumption, the opportunities are endless.”

Australia – Havas Group’s specialist entertainment communications and PR agency Organic Pacific has strengthened its line-up with four new hires, including Nathan Dann as head of entertainment, Emily Macgroarty and Lauren Patterson as account managers, and Alexander Hon as the new account coordinator.

The addition of new hires comes as the agency continues its pursuit of delivering results on projects of all sizes to the highest standards, ensuring that clients return again and again.

In his role as head of entertainment, Nathan Dann will head up and run the newly won Netflix account in the region. He is an entertainment industry stalwart and senior publicity expert, joining Organic after more than six years at Universal Pictures International, where he was Publicity Manager.

Dann has spent the majority of his solid PR career in entertainment, with stints at Warner Music, Nine Publicity, and most recently, Universal Pictures.

Of his new role, Dann says, “We live in exciting times, where the landscape of how we consume entertainment is shifting daily, and communications strategies need to be creative and adaptive, and companies like Netflix are leading the way.

“It’s an exhilarating time to join Organic, with the Australian office being in a period of significant growth. I look forward to doing great work with the team at Organic,” he added.

On the other hand, Emily Macgroarty and Lauren Patterson would both be taking on the role of Account Managers.

Macgroarty comes from a background in public relations agencies and has worked on the client side in Brisbane. Meanwhile, Patterson has almost five years of working experience at Premier London, a creative communications agency for entertainment, arts, and culture.

Finally, Alexander Hon, a recent PR graduate, will complete the team as the new account coordinator.

The addition of new hires comes after Havas Group’s significant recent new business win in a series of high-profile client wins across Australia in 2023, including companies such as Netflix, Universal Pictures Content Group, BMG Records, Sony Pictures, Roadshow Films, Alliance Francaise French Film Festival, and running the PR and communications for SXSW Sydney in October, the first time a SXSW® event—the famed Austin, Texas, innovation conference and cultural festival—has been held outside of North America in its 37-year history.

Organic Pacific Managing Partner Annabelle Gigliotti says that she is thrilled and looking forward to the work that they will do with the new hires of experts she made.

“Coming up to our second year for our Australian operation, it’s been incredibly gratifying to confirm there was a real need in the local market for Organic’s global expertise in entertainment comms. With our win locally, Netflix is now a global client, having been with our UK branch for EMEA comms for a decade,” she added.

Sydney, Australia – The popular tech and media event South by Southwest (SXSW) is making its debut in Asia-Pacific through SXSW Sydney 2023, and the event has appointed regional agency partners ahead of the event, which will happen in October this year.

Collaborating with the festival since the initial Australian announcement last year, Present Company take the lead on brand, creative and social, while Thinking Loud are managing the PR across culture, music, and gaming media. Organic Pacific are working in conjunction with Thinking Loud, and are responsible for Australian screen, business, and technology media. 

Globally, Organic international teams will manage domestic US and European communications, with Red Havas Singapore acting as the PR lead for the Asian markets.

SXSW Sydney is a week-long event where tech and innovation, games, music, and screen industries will converge with culture for unexpected discoveries. From a grassroots start in Austin Texas in 1987 to a new, second home in Sydney, SXSW Sydney is set to be a new experience for the event’s 37-year run.

Colin Daniels, managing director of SXSW Sydney said, “SXSW has a 37-year history as the unmissable industry conference and showcase for innovators and creative leaders. In October the event will land in Sydney, Australia for the first of what will be a vibrant annual event for the harbour city.” 

He added, “The undertaking of producing an event of the cultural importance of SXSW Sydney, and the global scale, requires an international team of experts, and we couldn’t ask for better partners than the pros at Present Company, Thinking Loud, Organic and Red Havas to support our goals.”  

Sydney, Australia – Havas Group’s specialist entertainment communications agency, Organic Pacific, have announced a number of new business wins, as part of its continued growth.

Organic Pacific has been appointed by Universal Pictures Content Group to partner on Lee Kernaghan: The Boy from the Bush and Reef: Stalked, BMG Records, collaborating on the multiverse of Future/Never experiences from Daniel Johns, Every Cloud Productions for an unannounced unit publicity project, Moving Story to promote their annual calendar of film festivals, and Black Pearl Productions to manage the social media strategy for ‘Bosch & Rockit’, as well as Greenlight Productions for ‘Straya and Ever After’. Moreover, Organic has also been engaged by The Alliance Francaise Film Festival for the second year running.

The Sydney-based operation launched as Organic’s APAC arm in October 2021, joining the group’s multi-territory operations in London and Los Angeles to bring innovative publicity and social media services to content creators and distributors in film, television, music, and gaming across Australia and New Zealand. 

Philippe Ostermann, business development manager at The Alliance Francaise Film Festival, shared that the team at Organic Pacific are a joy to work with and achieved exceptional results for their wonderful film festival last year. 

“Their connections are unparalleled and as we grow the festival and our offerings for sponsors the decision to work with them again was an easy one. We are very excited about what we can achieve together this year,” said Ostermann.

Meanwhile, Annabelle Gigliotti, Organic Pacific’s head of entertainment, commented that they are thrilled to be partnering with the industry’s best on this range of exciting new projects, and they felt there was a gap in the market for internationally connected entertainment communications and the success of this first year proves that the industry agrees. 

“What our team has achieved in under a year since we launched in Australia is something I’m exceptionally proud of, and we’ll continue to deliver our world-class communications services – while having the best time doing it,” said Gigliotti.