Former Partners Andrews Aldridge chief executive Martin Nieri has switched client side to take on the role of global director of brand, creative and communications at online gambling giant The Stars Group, which last year bought Sky Betting & Gaming for $4.7bn (£3.8bn).
Nieri left the Engine-owned agency in January following a major overhaul which saw UK shops WCRS, Partners, Slice and Synergy ditched and folded into Engine.
Having taken over from agency co-founder Phil Andrews in 2011, Nieri led the transformation of the business, built a new management team and also appointed a successor for co-founder Steve Aldridge.
He had joined from CMW (now Stack) where he had been managing director. Prior to that, Nieri worked at Rapp and McCann.
It is understood that in his new role Nieri reports to chief marketing officer Christopher Coyne, the former head of Paddy Power’s online operations, who joined the group in 2017.
Canadian-owned Stars Group was set up in 2001 and owns a raft of brands, including PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, BetStars, and PokerStars Casino, as well as Sky Bet, Sky Vegas, Sky Casino, and Sky Poker, Sky Bingo acquired in April last year.
According to its 2018 annual results, the group reported a 54.7% rise in revenues to top $2bn; its international division spent £164.6m on marketing.
Earlier this month, it was reported that PHD had retained the PokerStars global media account and also won the Sky Betting & Gaming UK media business. Anomaly scooped PokerStars’ global ad account in May.
With over 4,500 employees, the group is also on a major recruitment drive to support its expansion strategy.
It is currently recruiting for nearly 150 roles, from senior data scientist and analytics manager to senior CRM manager and digital marketing manager; there are 37 vacancies in the marketing team alone.
Nieri was unavailable for comment.
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