Wellington agency Sea hires senior social and media performance leads as it grows to eight staff

# What happened Wellington-based digital marketing agency Sea has appointed two senior hires: Frankie Rankin as senior social media manager and Joshua Oaten as media performance lead. The appointments bring the team to eight people as the agency heads into its 10th anniversary year.

# Who the hires are and what they will do

• Returns to Wellington after three years working agency-side in London. Her prior New Zealand roles include work at Trade Me, MSD and Socialites (part of Thompson Spencer).
• She will work closely with Sea's head of social media, Sasha McLeod, to deliver organic social and digital-native storytelling content.
• Rankin is quoted saying: "I'm excited to be joining the team at Sea. They understand what moves the needle in the digital space, and challenge clients to lead with an authentic approach. That's exactly the kind of work I love, and I can't wait to get stuck in."

• Takes on the role of media performance lead and is already embedded in paid campaigns, working with Sea's partners to reach growth goals.
• Oaten specialises in data and optimisation and is building out new workflows to sharpen Sea's paid performance offering.
• On his appointment he said: "Delighted to have joined Sea Digital as paid performance lead, and I'm really happy with how it's going so far. Looking forward to putting my experience to work and helping drive more success for Sea and its client partners."

# Why Sea made the hires Sea says the appointments follow a period of new-business wins, including work for the Royal New Zealand Ballet. Partner Felicity Douglas framed the hires as a way to lift the agency's delivery: "Platform fluency and genuine storytelling are what clients are asking for, and that's what we've built the agency around. Bringing Frankie and Josh on board means we can deliver that at a higher level, and gives Sasha and I the space to focus on where the business goes next."

# Immediate implications for the agency

• The hires expand the agency's senior capability across both organic social strategy and paid media performance.

• Leadership intends to use the additional capacity to focus on business direction and growth as client demand continues.

# Bottom line Sea has made targeted senior hires to deepen its social and paid media capabilities as it scales to eight staff and takes on new clients. Both appointments bring relevant New Zealand and international experience and are positioned to increase the agency's ability to deliver platform-specific creative and data-led paid performance.