Rare expands its Digital and Social offering hiring Damian McDermott, Sameera Afzaal and the returning Siobhan McGurrin

Hot on the heels of several new hires last month, Rare welcomes Damian McDermott, Sameera Afzaal and the returning Siobhan McGurrin as it expands its Digital and Social offering.

McDermott (pictured left) brings 20 years of digital experience and a holistic understanding of the client/agency relationship to the team having worked both client and agency side developing national and international multi-channel campaigns, specialising in government, legal, charity and education.

McGurrin (pictured centre) returns to the fold for the second time following the birth of child number two. McGurrin first joined Rare in 2014 bringing with her several years of experience working in London and a background in lifestyle journalism. Notable among her many achievements at Rare was her role as Digital Account Director on Karrinyup Shopping Centre’s $400m redevelopment.

Rare Head of Digital Shannon Murray said she was very proud of the specialist digital team that the agency has built. “It’s allowed us to attract and retain top strategic and creative talent like Damian and Siobhan. Damian crossed the country to work with us and has already added a wealth of industry and digital experience to our team, and Siobhan is one of the most strategic, creative and high calibre Senior Digital Specialists I’ve worked with over my career and we are thrilled to welcome her back”.

Afzaal (pictured right) joins in the role of Senior Social Specialist coming from Workhouse Advertising with extensive experience in the creation and implementation of paid social strategies. With some 10 years of social media experience, she has worked in various parts of the industry from content creation to public relations and influencer activations and even heading up the social team for the first 3 years of the annual State of Social conference.

“We’re very happy to add Sameera to our growing social media department,” said Cam Bisley, Rare Social Media Director. “She brings a passion and wealth of knowledge to our team that will take us up a level, particularly in the paid social space. Her wealth of experience and ‘can-do’ attitude have set us up nicely to continue delivering premium services for our existing social media clients as well as for the new business we’re onboarding. We’re looking forward to helping build this next chapter of Sameera’s career with her.”