The Spectrum Group announces new-look leadership and new clients

SYDNEY – AUGUST 21, 2013 - The Spectrum Group, one of Australia’s leading independent technology-focused public relations firms has today announced a new look leadership team, reporting to Group Managing Director, Laura Skelley. The announcement symbolises a refreshed focus to ensure it continues to offer clients the direction and strategic counsel that has always been synonymous with Spectrum Communications and Max Australia – the two brands under The Spectrum Group.

Skelley explained that the changes usher in a new era for the agencies. She said the promotions are in recognition of outstanding contributions from individuals, but also represent a statement of intent from the owner of the Group, IPMG.

“The public relations industry has been changing dramatically in recent years and it will continue to do so. This organisational change will allow us to focus more clearly on the individual businesses, Spectrum Communications and Max Australia, while expanding our services offering,” said Skelley.

The new structure sees Aaron Crowther take the newly created role across both agencies as Group Business Director, while Alex Brewer and Rachel York have been appointed General Managers of Spectrum Communications and Max Australia respectively.

“These changes reflect our long-term objectives as a Group, while also offering expanded career opportunities for our staff,” explained Skelley. “Identifying opportunities to develop our business and expanding our service offering will be a significant focus for Aaron in his new role. He will be responsible for working with me to ensure we offer the best possible services to our clients and represent industry best practice.

“As General Managers, Alex and Rachel will take on the overall responsibility for all administrative areas of Spectrum and Max respectively, including client engagement, new business development, finance and budgeting, and managing their consulting teams. By taking on these roles, Alex and Rachel will free me to focus on higher level strategy as we expand our business within the Asia Pacific region. We will be looking to hire staff in key roles under Aaron, Alex and Rachel as we grow.” Brewer, Crowther and York bring with them more than 40 years’ collective communications experience across a wide range of roles, geographies and businesses. Skelley said with this combined experience, she expects this announcement will be the first in a series of positive news stories from both Spectrum Communications and Max Australia in the coming months.

“In the last year we have added some important accounts to the portfolio, as well as some key talent within the team,” said Skelley. “Our credentials in enterprise technology are long, proven and second-to-none and we have also had some great success in the consumer tech space in the last few years. Managing and implementing change is part of a successful agency because it allows us to continue providing the highest quality of service for our clients. These business changes are important and necessary for our growth and development in the market, but what won’t change is our commitment to excellence on behalf of our clients.

“SDL and Tableau Software are the latest additions to Spectrum’s broad client portfolio and ManageEngine helps to round-out Max’s client base. We are delighted to be working with these three innovative companies to help them grow their brands in Australia,” said Skelley.

Founded in 1992, SDL enables global businesses to engage with their customers in the language, the media and at the moment they choose. It uses customer insights to create meaningful experiences, regardless of how or where customers engage. Spectrum will work alongside SDL, which is expanding its business in Australia, to help build its profile.

Hana Mujadzic, APAC Marketing Manager for SDL, said, “SDL appointed Spectrum Communications as its PR partner to prepare for the next phase of growth in Australia. Spectrum demonstrated it has the relevant experience, media contacts and industry knowledge needed to successfully manage SDL’s PR campaign. Spectrum’s experience across the technology, business and marketing sectors will help SDL grow its Australian market presence.”

Tableau Software was founded in 2003 by Pat Hanrahan, a founding member of Pixar and Stanford professor, computer scientist Dr. Chris Stolte and Tableau’s CEO, Christian Chabot. The company develops innovative software that helps people see and understand their data.

Richard Ng, Marketing Director, Asia Pacific & Japan at Tableau Software said, “We appointed Spectrum to help raise awareness of the Tableau brand in Australia and New Zealand. Spectrum demonstrated extensive experience working with global brands in the local market, which is one of the reasons they are the perfect extension to our team. We have a lot of ANZ customers doing great things with Tableau, and we look forward to working together with Spectrum to share those stories."

A division of global parent company Zoho Corp, ManageEngine delivers the real-time IT management tools that empower an IT team to meet an organisation’s need for real-time services and support. Worldwide, more than 72,000 established and emerging enterprises (including more than 60 percent of the Fortune 500) rely on ManageEngine products to ensure the optimal performance of their critical IT infrastructure, including networks, servers, applications, desktops and more. Max is working with ManageEngine to grow its brand presence in the Australian market.

Sridhar Iyengar, VP Product Management for ManageEngine, said, “ManageEngine chose Max Australia to represent us for PR in local market after a competitive pitch process. We chose Max because of its reputation in the market and the team’s ability plan and execute a program with proven results. We look forward to working with the Max team as we continue to grow our brand presence in the Australian marketplace.”