Rocket expands to handle new business

The agency has hired Elton Thrussell as direct communications manager and Ronan O'Mahony as communications planner.

Thrussell joins the firm from Carat, where he headed up the Dell account. At Rocket he will manage its direct response function, predominantly working for Rocket's direct response clients. O'Mahony joins Rocket from Walker Media, where he was a media planner/buyer working on the Dixons and First Choice accounts.

At Rocket, his main role will be to work on the Co-Operative Group business, which spans retail, banking and funeral. Both men will report to media director Ben Harrison.

Mark Girling, managing director of Rocket, said the agency won £47m worth of new business, including the Co-Operative Group, Gamestation and Tiger Beer, last year. He said the new roles were a result of the growth and the agency had doubled its headcount over the last nine months.

Media Week (13-20 February 2007, page 3) last week revealed that the agency handled over £31m of billings across traditional media in 2006, an increase of 156% on the previous year.

This article was first published on Media Week