Former Speed head Steve Earl to head up Zeno Europe expansion

Earl will be MD of Zeno Europe having left Speed last week at the same time as co-founder Stephen Waddington announced his departure.

His move comes as the agency announced the opening of four other offices in Asia, bringing the total number of full-service Zeno offices to 11, and the appointment of Edelman's John Kerr to MD for the area. 

Starting the role on 1 October, Earl will report to Barby Siegel, CEO of Zeno Group, and will be responsible for charting the firm’s growth in London and other key European cities.

Zeno established an office in London this June, with the move prompted by work with a major pharmaceutical company as part of a network-wide global assignment.

There will be a team of five working in the London base, with Zeno also having established an office in Amsterdam.

Siegel said:  ‘We have ambition to expand strategically in Europe and Steve will lead us there too. He has an amazing track record as a business builder with tremendous insight into what it takes to build and protect brand reputation. He also has a fire in his belly and really embodies the Zeno spirit of being entrepreneurial and fearlessness.'

She added: 'We will focus on London first but have intentions to go beyond that in Europe and are looking at places like France and Germany, with developments likely over the next 24 months.’

PRWeek revealed earlier this year that the Edelman owned agency was looking to expand internationally.

Zeno will launch offices in India (New Delhi), Indonesia (Jakarta) and Singapore by next month.

China is expected to be in place by year-end, pending Chinese government approval to re-brand DJE’s Blue agency to Zeno. 

Kerr will be MD of Zeno Asia after moving from sister-agency Edelman, which he joined in 2006 to launch Edelman Digital in Asia.

Waddington has joined Ketchum Pleon as digital and social media director across Europe.

This article was first published on prweek.com