EssenceMediacom Australia hired two client managing partners to handle KFC, NBC Universal, Warner Bros and PlayStation.

Amy Jost will handle the KFC account as client managing partner. She most recently worked at OMD, where she led global intelligence and comms strategy in the global PepsiCo team in New York, and previously she has worked at OMD Australia.

Hannah Partner joins from UM and will serve as client managing partner across NBC Universal, Warner Bros and PlayStation. She has previously held senior agency roles serving global brands including Nestle, Coca-Cola and ING.

The pair will report into EssenceMediacom Sydney MD Stevie Douglas-Neal and join the Sydney leadership team. 

Douglas-Neal said: “We are building an exciting new proposition at EssenceMediacom, and both Amy and Hannah have the skills, the energy and the passion for clients and people to help the Sydney agency deliver on our ambitions.” 

Jost and Partner are the last senior moves this year at EssenceMediacom, which formed from a global merger between MediaCom and Essence last year.

The agency has been in somewhat of a transition period since then, with new leadership. Reprise APAC boss Pippa Berlocher took over the reins of the agency this year, while former EssenceMediacom CEO and managing partner Pat Crowley left the business for a role with long-term client CommBank.

Just prior to Berlocher joining, EssenceMediacom appointed Jack Graham as National Head of Planning and Matt Scotton as ANZ Chief Marketing and Product Officer.

Post merger, some clients left the business, including Lindt, a former Essence client that had left due to a conflict with MediaCom’s Mars, and the betting giant Entain (parent company of Ladbrokes), which moved to Atomic 212. Others have extended their stay, such as the insurer Nib and PlayStation, an account that will now be led by Partner.