Innovatio is excited to announce the appointment of industry figure and passionate brand champion Peter Rothel as it’s new Managing Director. Peter brings with him more than two decade’s of executive management experience at a national and global level – and on both sides of the agency-client relationship.

Innovatio’s CEO Sarah Spiteri says ‘Peter’s ability as a strategic thinker, combined with senior management experience, and international success at growing brands all made him the right choice.’

‘Peter is a perfect fit. With invaluable experience in companies as diverse as Kraft, Unilever, Mars, IOOF and Gulf Air and JWalter Thompson in 3 countries, he’s been instrumental in connecting brands to people, and in building brand health and equity. That’s what really impressed us’, said Sarah.

For his part, Peter is looking forward to joining a team he admires and believes in; ‘Innovatio occupy that unique space where brand, strategy and activation connect to deliver tangible bottom line results’ says Peter. “and they’ve got an excellent record of cut through, action and success. I can’t wait to see what we can do together in partnership with our Clients.’

Peter says his role at Innovatio will be to lead the agency forward, taking over from Spiteri in the day to day running of the agency to allow her to focus on her long held vision of taking our own Innovative ideas, brands and products to market. Some of which are already in the pipeline. Peter’s mandate will be to provide highly strategic, financial and creative input in partnership with their clients to build brand and business together. And to be directly involved in driving and shaping the future vision of the agency.

‘Having spent more than half my career as a client.’ says Peter.  ‘ I am driven by results – perhaps more than traditional Agency people. Strategic thinking and strong leadership are essential – but it has to translate into action if you want create, grow or turn-around business and deliver tangible outcomes.’ He says, and Peter’s impressive CV bears out this approach.

Peter hasn’t wasted any time putting his stamp on the agency, with a re-structure of the Senior Management team, including new senior appointments including the ex Creative Director of the Coles Group, Simon Castle, combined with a soon to be launched dedicated Innovatio business unit to drive the fast growing strategic brand activation area of the agency, he is already driving in 6^th gear to take the agency to the next level of its development.

Prior to joining Innovatio, Peter was Vice President of Marketing and Brand at Gulf Air, where he established a strong differentiated global brand in a tightly competitive market, earning Gulf Air the title of 'Superbrand' in the UAE 2009 – as well as winning the World Travel and Freddie Awards for marketing effectiveness.

As Regional Director in Charge at J. Walter Thompson (Asia) Peter was responsible for the Unilever Foods account in Asia Pacific, helping successfully launch Lipton Iced Tea and Knorr (Continental) Soupy Snax into some of the most competitive international markets.

As General Manager Marketing & Brand at IOOF Ltd. (Financial Services), he helped transform IOOF from a disparate collection of businesses with low brand awareness, to a modern, dynamic Financial Services and Health Insurance brand.

Prior to that he revitalised County Natwest’s brand and reputation, launching a Retail business, streamlining the product range and refocusing the organisation on its key competencies, to ultimately increasing their funds under management to over $8 billion.

Earlier in his career of 6 years with Kraft Foods, Peter took over Kraft Peanut Butter. The brand was languishing in third place at just 20% market share. He drove the brand over two years to a 30% leading market share and it is still the market leader today. His FMCG expertise included flagship brands for  Mars Corporation such as Mars, Snickers and Bounty, as well as helping re-launch Skittles back into the Australian market.

Working with Mars Pet food, he was instrumental in re-positioning the CHUM brand taking it from a basic one-dimensional ‘price’ brand to multi-dimensional ‘value’ brand with a strong emotional appeal to dog-owners. So successful, it not only killed many house brands, but also snatched 5% market share from PAL in a very short time.

‘Having Peter on board means we can now harness the energy and specialist experience in our team, and drive our vision and ideas to really make a difference to our clients’ brands and businesses’ says Sarah.