Golin appoints Kat Arnull as UK strategy chief

Global comms agency Golin has appointed Kat Arnull as its first ever UK group chief strategy officer for Golin and Virgo Health.

Kat starts her role with immediate effect, reporting into group managing director in London, Ondine Whittington, and working closely with Paul Parton, Golin’s global chief strategy officer.

Arnull formally joins Golin after a 12-month period of consultancy at the agency.

In her new role, Kat will take responsibility for working with the UK leadership to grow the agencies’ practices and offerings.

She will lead the strategy team, an integrated data, analytics and planning function, and help further embed The Playbook, the company’s data-driven strategic planning process, across all client work.

Kat joins Golin from Freuds and has over 20 years’ experience working in communications.

This has included working on the launch of government behaviour change campaigns Change4Life and Stoptober, leading the agency PR strategy for Asda and Sainsbury’s as well as working with big FMCG giants PepsiCo and Mars.

She is part of the Government Strategic and Evaluation Council and a mentor on the NABS Fast Forward training scheme.

Whittington said: “Kat’s brilliant thinking and depth of experience has already had such a positive impact on our client work and new business. Now more than ever we have the opportunity to drive forward the role of PR as a strategic and sophisticated partner to our clients to raise awareness of issues, drive new conversations and shift landscapes.

Arnull added: “The geek in me is over-the-moon to find an agency so dedicated to building campaigns from evidence but thankfully with the creative strength to continue striving for ideas that turn heads.

“I am a firm believer in an earned-approach and looking at the world outside-in, and what blows me away about Golin is that now we have the data to prove it. We’ve got big plans for 2021 which I can’t wait to get my teeth stuck into.”