Little Giant promotes chief strategy officer Ian Howard to newly created managing director role

Little Giant, Linked by Isobar has appointed Ian Howard to the newly created position of managing director. The creation of the role follows another period of strong growth for Little Giant which now boasts a team of 45 digital experts.

Howard joined Little Giant as chief strategy officer in October 2016 and will retain CSO responsibilities alongside his new role as managing director.

Mark Hurley, founder and CEO of Little Giant, says Howard has been an integral part of Little Giant’s success over the last two years and it was a natural choice to promote him into this role.

Says Hurley: “Ian has done an outstanding job, building out our strategy department, helping us refine Little Giant’s vision as a company and driving excellence across all client engagements. As we continue to scale, it’s become clear we need additional leadership support, and Ian has proven across the last two years that he is the right man for the job. I am extremely excited to appoint Ian to this new role and look forward to working side by side with him to help this agency realise its enormous potential.”

Howard says he is extremely proud of what Little Giant has achieved over the last couple of years; joining the world’s leading digital agency network – Isobar; being awarded Campaign Asia Pacific’s New Zealand Digital Agency of the Year; and developing into a truly rounded digital agency with industry-leading strategic and creative ability alongside world-class production capabilities.

While Little Giant is now too big to be considered an emerging challenger brand, Howard says he’s keen to hang on to the spirit and culture that’s driven its success so far: “One of the things that initially attracted me to Little Giant was the refusal to be constrained by industry norms. We’ve always thought a little bit differently, and I think that’s been the secret to our success. That’s something I want to carry across to the managing director role. Much as we do for our clients’ businesses, I’ll be aiming to strike a balance between creativity and empathy to find new ways of propelling Little Giant forward.

“We’ve built incredibly strong foundations – a hugely talented team, amazing clients and a culture that’s truly special. We’re continually striving to be New Zealand’s leading agency and I couldn’t be more excited about working alongside Mark and the rest of the team here towards that goal.”

Howard’s previous experience includes high profile strategic positions in both the UK and New Zealand, including at ITV, TVNZ and Interbrand and he is a regular contributor to TVNZ Breakfast as a digital commentator.