PHD, part of the Omnicom Media Group, has appointed Robert Ray, Toby Roberts and Guy Cousins to manage the new unit responsible for Unilever’s global communications planning.
Ray has been named as managing director, with Roberts and Cousins appointed as global head of strategy for their respective categories.
All brands in the Foods, Refreshments and Home Care categories will be handled by Roberts, with Cousins overseeing Personal Care. All three will work closely with worldwide strategy and planning director, Mark Holden, in the day-to-day development of global strategies.
Speaking of the appointments Holden said: “Our aim was to create the world’s best communications planning resource and we believe that’s what we have with the new team in place.”
Prior to joining PHD, Ray was most recently marketing director of the Newspaper Society. He also held the role of managing director for the P&G global business unit at Starcom Worldwide between 2001 and 2003, heading up strategic communications and driving the strategy for 14 P&G brands across the Publicis Groupe’s agency assignments.
Roberts moves from Omnicom agency OMD, where he has held the role of managing partner since 2011 and prior to that head of strategy. Since joining OMD in 1995 Roberts has worked with the likes of Channel 4, McDonald’s, PepsiCo and Vodafone.
Cousins' appointment sees him return to PHD, having joined Naked Communications in New Zealand as managing partner in February 2012. Prior to joining Naked, Cousins held the role of strategic planning director of PHD’s New Zealand office working with brands including Coca-Cola, Unilever and Sony PlayStation.
All three will be based in London, with Ray and Roberts starting their roles with immediate effect. Cousins will join them in February.