Shift Active Media hires new head of strategy

Cycling and tri-sports marketing communication agency Shift Active Media has bolstered its leadership team with the appointment of Doug Baker to Head of Strategy.

Baker will work on major strategic projects across the wider Play Sports Group to support the agency’s growth plans.

Joining Shift from global digital agency AnalogFolk, Baker brings a wealth of knowledge and experience across brand, direct, digital marketing, technology innovation, user experience and research. Leaving his position as Head of Strategic Services, Baker spent seven years at AnalogFolk working with the likes of Nike, HSBC, BT and Sainsbury’s.

Baker has featured in Marketing Magazine, The Drum and Little Black Book in recent years and has contributed to teams that have won several awards, including The Drum’s Content Agency of the Year and a Cannes Lion.

Baker said of his appointment: “I’ve been incredibly impressed by the ambitious vision of the leadership team at Play Sports Groups. This is clearly a world-class and fast-growing company and as someone with a passion for cycling, this is a role that I’m incredibly excited to take on.

“I’m looking forward to helping both Shift clients and Play Sports Group create some of the most progressive strategies in cycling that truly connect with their audiences.”

Alongside Baker’s arrival, which will commence in the New Year, Shift has also welcomed Tom King and Emmalou Johnson to the senior team.

King brings 10 years’ experience at digital agencies to the newly-created Head of Media role in order to advance the Media Planning and Buying offering at Shift, utilising his strength in search, social and online media planning. Meanwhile, Johnson brings video filming, audio post-production and music supervision experience to her newly-created role of Executive Producer. Over the past 20 years she has produced award-winning video content in a variety of leading advertising agencies and production companies, including AMV BBDO, Mother, BBH, Aardman Animations, Leo Burnett and most recently Dyson.

Wayne Brown, PSG Managing Director, added: “We’re delighted to have Doug, Tom and Emmalou join us at such an important time for the business, bringing with them specialist craft knowledge, passion for cycling and many combined years of dedicated experience. We’re fully committed to investing in our team, developing our product and recruiting skills necessary, to deliver a truly world-class offering for our global client base.”