FiftyFive5 Adds Two to Melbourne Team

In Melbourne, Australian insights consultancy Fiftyfive5 has appointed long-time Colmar Brunton exec Jenny Witham as a Director, while Michelle Newton joins as Marketing Director.

Fiftyfive5 was launched in 2010 by three former directors of The Leading Edge: Karen Phillips, Mark Sundquist and Darren Kemp. Two years ago, the firm merged with brand development and consumer insights agency GalKal, and the combined business now has a team of more than 135 staff, based in offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland and Singapore.

Witham previously spent more than twenty years at Colmar Brunton, latterly as Client Officer, before which she was MD of the firm in Melbourne, leading a large team of researchers and specialists. More recently, she worked for Kantar as Executive Director, Strategic Client Partner, focusing on company integration, client planning, and leading strategic accounts and teams. Newton has worked both locally and globally in advertising, at JWT and Y&R, and in New York with futurist Faith Popcorn. On her return from the US, she led the national cultural forecasting offer at GalKal, before moving to Deloitte where she established the National Greenhouse innovation lab offering.

Commenting on the appointments, Matt Pearce, who leads the Melbourne business, said: 'We are delighted to welcome both Michelle and Jenny to the team. We have a growth mindset and our growth ambition is largely achieved by the seniority and depth of expertise across all our teams. Now, more than ever before, we believe deep customer insight allows businesses to meaningfully identify, execute and evaluate the path to growth'.

Web site: www.fiftyfive5.com .