Mat Rawnsley Named Head of Planning at UM Australia

UM Australia is announcing new, senior talent for its planning capabilities with the appointment of Mat Rawnsley to the new role of national head of planning. He starts work at UM on January 10 and will report to national chief strategy officer Raj Gupta.

Rawnsley has deep experience across communications planning and strategy in both creative and media agencies. He has worked at The Hallway for more than four years, initially as head of strategy and later as head of connections and media. Preceding The Hallway Rawnsley worked at OMD and The Monkeys, which included winning an MFA Grand Prix for Boost Mobile 'Stay Living.'

Gupta commented: “At UM, we have always had a strong belief in the importance of landing our strategies in exceptional OESP (owned, earned, shared and paid) media planning. This has been a focus for the agency and one we want to accelerate as a part of our core offering. Our commitment to the craft of planning has led to the creation of the new national head of planning role and we are really excited to have someone of Mat’s experience and expertise to fill the role. Mat has the passion and capability to not only lead UM’s planning craft but also be a torch bearer for the industry’s planning community.”

Commenting on his appointment, Rawnsley said: “This new role represents a fantastic opportunity to invigorate the lost craft of comms planning, something I'm very passionate about. And to be able to do it in a media agency that I am convinced is consistently the smartest in Australia, and with a remarkable client list, is an irresistible combination."