Stanley St bolsters tech capability with key appointments

AUCKLAND, Wednesday: With the dawn of a new year, Stanley St are investing heavily in tech and digital capabilities with the recent appointment of two best-in-class hires in the search and digi-tech spaces.

Ankit Sehgal joins Stanley St as chief digital officer. Jack Lightfoot is the agency’s new head of search.

Stanley St ceo Siobhan Burke said: “Ankit’s pedigree is exemplary. A proven and highly analytical thought leader with over 12 years of experience in technology and leading digital teams.

“His career accomplishments are numerous including founding New Zealand‘s largest start-up ecosystem forum with 20,000 members, being invited to TED Talks Vancouver and recently started and grew sustainable and health-focused FMCG brand to a nationwide brand working with both Foodies and Woolworths in just over two years.

“As chief digital officer for Realestate.co.nz he made a significant difference across all aspects of business including the Realestate.co.nz platform, user growth and revenue.

“With broad agency experience spanning the likes of Starcom, OMD and Ikon, Ankit has worked across global and local brands including Coke, 2degrees, Kathmandu, JetStar and Sony PlayStation.

“Ankit is key to unlocking the depth of tech skills we have across our business – further integrating our media and creative offerings” says Siobhan Burke, Stanley St CE. “His credentials are brilliant and we can’t wait to unleash more of our digital expertise to deliver more truly effective creative work for our clients.”

Ankit Sehgal said: “Stanley St is at a unique moment in its transformation journey, and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.:

Joining Sehgal is Jack Lightfoot, Stanley St’s new head of search.

“This focus on driving efficient client growth through strategic innovation, creative automation and data-led strategy is another step Stanley St are taking to achieve value for their clients.”

Siobhan Burke: “With extensive experience in the search space having worked across a number of industries including retail verticals, tourism, automotive and finance, Jack’s focus is on driving additional innovation and ongoing performance improvement in paid search for client growth.

“It is this combination of creative automation and data led strategy that has enabled Jack to achieve such strong results for his clients in previous roles.

“Jack is originally from the UK and has more recently worked at Starcom Australia in a trans-Tasman capacity as national search solutions director. Whilst in the role he achieved a

multitude of successes including but not limited to a sharp increase in national client search effectiveness and their pitch win rates.

“Jack brings with him a strong background of agency knowledge and a broad understanding of media.

“His eight years of local and global experience and a proven track record of success – including winner of Growth Hacker of the Year at Microsoft Global Partner Awards – will see him add additional firepower to Stanley St’s already strong line- up.

“We’re thrilled to have snared Jack. He is a natural leader in his field; his track record speaks for itself and we could not be more excited about his appointment and what it will mean for our clients”

“Jack’s remit won’t solely be search – his experience and role will be to link our search activity to broader e-commerce approaches and our overall data & analytics product to provide a holistic conversion funnel.

“This focus on driving efficient client growth through strategic innovation, creative automation and data-led strategy is another step Stanley St are taking towards ensuring they harness the power of intelligence to achieve real world results and value for their clients.”

About Stanley St
Stanley St is based at 22 Stanley Street, working with many of New Zealand’s biggest brands, including Briscoes, Rebel Sport, KFC, Tourism NZ, Ministry of Education, Ara Poutama – Department of Corrections, Fisher Funds, ITM and more.

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