Purple Consultancy appoints first agency-wide MD
The appointment marks a return to the 120-person agency for Coney, who moved to the United States four years ago.
She will join this summer reporting to CEO Mike Morgan. Coney joins a leadership team that includes CFO Paul Weigold and division directors: Danny Whatmough, who leads Play (consumer technology and lifestyle) and Shiny Red (digital and social); Emily Morgan, who runs life (food and drink, wellbeing, beauty); and Jo Monery, who heads the corporate and technology division.
Currently based in California, Coney was a senior vice president and partner in the FleishmanHillard Los Angeles office. Her roles included leading brand marketing for Los Angeles, business development for the Western Region and the Samsung Global Mobile account.
After joining Red Consultancy as a 2001 graduate, Coney was promoted to managing director of the agency’s play division, winning and managing clients such as Samsung UK, Activision and Emirates before leaving in 2017.
Huntsworth-owned Red suffered a 19 percent drop in UK sales to £ 10.4m in 2020. However, a number of high profile customers have been added in the past 12 months, including Sky Mobile and Sony PlayStation. Both are led by Whatmough, the agency’s youngest board member who joined Weber Shandwick in 2019.
The agency has also strengthened its financial services offering through a strategic alliance with Huntworth’s sister agency, Citigate Dewe Rogerson (corporate and finance). The agencies are now in Red’s Soho offices and were recently jointly named by Virgin Money.
“Isobel not only has extensive experience in attracting and leading large customers, but also has a critical understanding of what drives our agency culture,” said CEO Mike Morgan. “She returns with even greater global experience to join an already very strong leadership team at Red Consultancy.”
Explaining her motivation to rejoin, Coney said, “For me the deal is still very much unfinished. Red Consultancy has always been a creative and customer-centric powerhouse.
“Right now, the agency’s core consumer, business, technology and social units are really delivering, and my job now is to support the agency’s next phase of growth. I also believe that the recent launch of financial services in the form of the alliance with CDR is a great opportunity. “
