• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, December 18, 2014

Just months after elevating Michael Epstein from chief strategy officer to chief client officer, Carat is filling the void and expanding the role to include innovation, naming long-time Australian media and ad executive Justine Bloome head of strategy and innovation.

Bloome, who had been running her own Melbourne-based shop, The Village Agency, previously was a business strategist at Jack Morton Worldwide and has served a wide variety of accounts Down Under, including REA Group, SEEK, NAB, Australian Super, MTV, National Geographic Channel, Coca-Cola, Ford Motoring, Optus, McDonald's, ING Direct, Mitsubishi, Vodafone, MARS, Disney, Schweppes and Cadbury Australia.

While most big media services agencies consider strategy to be an integral role, Carat considers it to be its core product, and Epstein describes the addition of innovation to Bloome’s role as imperative to the agency’s future.

Part of her role includes heading up Carat’s new Catalyst unit, which is focused on developing new media and communications opportunities leveraging Carat’s proprietary insights about consumers and the agency’s relationships with media and technology suppliers to create new ways for its clients’ brands to engage and influence consumers.