Beacon Communications names Gavin Cranston as head of digital in Japan

The new role will see Cranston bring digital media planning closer to the creative process to bolster the agency’s digital output, processes and business.

With 12 years' experience in digital, Cranston has worked across many disciplines in the field from production, strategy and account management to media planning and buying.

He started his career at D’Arcy in Melbourne. When D’Arcy merged with Leo Burnett, he was involved in iLeo and the regional development of the Arc Worldwide brand. He then finally moved to Leo Burnett in Sydney to run Optus along with other accounts including Subaru, Unilever, Maytag and Bayer Health.

In 2004, Cranston moved to Proximity in Sydney to set up its digital offering from scratch. He then moved to Shanghai to set up Proximity in China where he built the agency into a 20-staff operation.

On the appointment, Jarek Ziebinski, president at Leo Burnett/ Arc Asia-Pacific, said: “Beacon is one of our digital centers of excellence in Asia-Pacific as well as globally. We want to make sure we have the best talent and we expect Gavin to make a difference which our team, clients and prospects will appreciate.”

Nicolas Menat, president of Beacon Communications, said: “Gavin’s role with us is really about initiating, creating, and managing the complete digital services Beacon will provide in the future - to connect target planning, media planning, creative, design, and production together."

Menat added that Cranston will be leading new business opportunities as well as evolving current clients’ digital services, mainly on Philip Morris and P&G.

“With his extensive digital experience spanning from creative to media planning to strategy and management, Gavin is well placed to help us build and grow our digital business further,” said Menat.