Kane Stanford joins digital company Gopher in group marketing + communications manager role

Kane Stanford joins digital advertising technology company Gopher as group marketing and communications manager, bringing a wealth of agency experience to his new client-side role.

Most recently Stanford was New Zealand sales director for an Australian head-quartered brand marketing business, Powersource Global, working with Steinlager and Woodstock to leverage their respective All Black and motorsport sponsorships.

The University of Auckland commerce alumni previously gained experience in roles with Rapport and Apollo, working on clients including the Department of Labour and Philips. Prior to this, Stanford started his career client-side, with marketing roles at Independent Liquor and Reckitt Benckiser.

Says Stanford: “I’ve enjoyed my recent agency experience, but I’m looking forward to getting back to my client roots. Being a part of a Kiwi company succeeding on the global stage is a hugely appealing proposition. With Gopher ranking as the 4th fastest growing technology company in New Zealand at the Deloitte Fast 50 Awards last month, and 17th overall, it’s an exciting place to work.”

Says John Campbell, co-founder and CEO of Gopher Group: “Kane’s diverse business experience is a valuable addition to the Gopher team. His energy and expertise will help drive our continued success as we further extend our operations off-shore.

“We’ve seen a huge expansion at Gopher. We started 2011 with 20 staff in our New Zealand headquarters, and now have over 150 staff servicing NZ, Australia and Indonesia.”

Gopher Group works with tens of thousands of small businesses looking for internet leads in New Zealand, Australia and Indonesia, and was recently selected as a Google AdWords Premier SME Partner.  In 2013, Gopher is expanding its presence in the Asian market, with new offices opening in Thailand.

Stanford starts full-time on 19 November, taking the marketing manager reins from Jen Campbell, who is leaving to have a baby.