Sling & Stone doubles down on startups, nabs ICON Agency talent to lead efforts
Sling & Stone has bolstered its Australian leadership team, nabbing talent from ICON Agency to lead the agency’s work with startups and scale-ups.
Joining as associate director, Stefanie Safahi will use her expertise to build on Sling & Stone’s 14-year experience working with tech companies and startups.
She joins after over a year at ICON Agency where she worked with Salesforce, Airwallex, Brandon Capital, and Schneider Electric, with experience at Folklore Ventures, The P.R. Group, and H+K Strategies also under her belt.
Safahi is also a co-founder of VC Women Down Under, a 200+ strong community of female partners in Venture Capital.
Sling & Stone has also promoted Amy Brinker to director, Australia, and Lucie Buchan to associate director.
Brinker has been with the agency for four years, leading clients including Google Cloud and Stripe. She will join the Australian and global leadership teams and continue to push the agency forward.
Meanwhile, Buchan will continue to build out Sling & Stone’s capabilities in research, thought leadership, content, and executive voice. Using her experience with local and global companies including Sendle, Xero, and Greystar, she will develop compelling content-led campaigns for Sling & Stone’s clients.
The agency is continuing to prove its strength while it enters a period of transition, with founder and CEO, Vuki Vujasinovic, stepping away from the business in the new year. Current global head of business, and 10-year veteran of the agency, James Hutchison, will succeed him on January 1.
Of the recent appointments, Hutchison said: “Working with startups is in our DNA. While we’re known for clients across the challenger brand and technology spectrum, both big and small, the agency got started nearly a decade and a half ago with startups and entrepreneurs at our core.
“Having Stef on board strengthens our relationships and experience with the Venture Capital and startup communities, and will allow us to double down on helping the next generation of founders build their brand and take it to the world,” the incoming CEO continued.
“Amy and Lucie’s promotions are testament to the incredible leadership they have demonstrated internally with our team and externally with clients. I’m looking forward to working closely with our growing leadership team as we enter a new era for communications in Australia and abroad.”
The agency recently won a suite of new clients, as revealed by Mumbrella, including LUSH, RMIT Online, and 4Pines.
Over the past 12 months, it has also been appointed by Rothy’s, Domino’s, Boody, waterdrop, and Nourish Ingredients, among others.
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Lauren McNamara is the associate editor at Mumbrella, covering the creative and PR beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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Amy Brinker
Icon Agency
James Hutchinson
Lucie Buchan
Sling & Stone
Stefanie Safahi
Vuki Vujasinovic
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