Connelly Partners has appointed a new leadership team at its Dublin office following the departure of Keith Lee. The new leadership team is made up of Vaunnie McDermott, client service and business director; Mary McMahon, strategy director and Ronan Doyle, art and creative director.
“We are truly excited about developments in Ireland, and particularly the level and calibre of recent client wins. Mary, Ronan and Vaunnie bring a tremendous knowledge, passion and experience to the company and personally I look forward to working with them all in the future. I would also like to thank Keith Lee for his ongoing creativity and support in recent years,” says Steve Connelly, president of Conelly Partners.
Connelly Partners, which is headquartered in Boston, acquired Strategem in 2018 with a view to expanding into Europe. Strategem was headed up by Keith Lee who has spent the last number of years managing the transition. As originally planned, Lee stepped aside at the end of March and the new management team has since been put in place.
“We have won a wide range of clients including 123.ie Insurance, Audi Ireland, Women’s Gaelic Players Association & Gaelic Players Association, Defiant Water, Barnardos and Limerick Enterprise Development Partnership. We have also retained the Bus Éireann / Expressway account, which has been with us for 11 years,” says Vaunnie McDermott.
“Our vision for the agency is to find more opportunities to integrate strategic and creative services between Dublin and Boston. In 2021, our joint ventures have led to new accounts valued at over €1m in turnover, we are now scaling up our teams as a result. This integrated approach will benefit our Irish clients by offering a small, agile, yet experienced team in Dublin that knows the market inside out. Furthermore, central to our offering is our belief that people buy into products and services based on emotion and once you understand those emotive drivers, the most impactful creative will flow from there. We call this being Definitely Human and it underpins everything we do. Connelly Partners has the added benefit of access to the wealth of global experience across different sectors and brands to call on when required; whether to scale projects or deliver to extremely tight deadlines. We see Connelly Partners Dublin more and more as a global agency with local understanding.” says Mary McMahon.
Vaunnie McDermott has over 20 years’ experience working as a marketing professional in media and advertising across both the agency side, with Irish International BBDO and the client side, having worked for RTÉ and the Irish Examiner. Mary McMahon, meanwhile, joined the agency in February 2020 having previously worked for a number of Irish agencies including McConnells, Irish International BBDO, Owens DDB and Chemistry. For his part, Ronan Doyle has been with the agency since 2003 and has delivered a number of award-winning campaigns for clients.
According to McDermott, the agency is in the process of expansion and is currently looking to recruit two account executives, an account manager and an art director.
