Iris Bolsters Health Offering with Trio of Senior Appointments

Iris Worldwide, the global creative network, today announced a trio of senior appointments as it looks to bolster its health offering for clients. The agency has hired Avril Furness as creative director, Marie Little as managing director, health, and Harriet Masters as project director.

Building on several years of health campaign success, with clients such as Alcon and Convatec, Iris has identified health as a key growth driver for the business globally. With this in mind, it is further strengthening its UK health offering with three new senior hires, all of whom have considerable experience in the sector. 

Avril was most recently creative director at McCann Health, where she oversaw Teva’s Digihaler launch in the UK and Europe, as well as GlaxoSmithKline’s global vaccine account, amongst others. Her work on the Tear Couture campaign for Acid Survivors Trust International picked up six gold Creative Circle Awards last year. 

Starting her career working with Maurice Saatchi at M&C Saatchi, Avril held creative roles at agencies including Fallon and Wieden + Kennedy during her career.

She is also an accomplished director, specialising in virtual reality films. Her recent projects include collaborations with the BBC and BFI Archive, and her work has been screened at The World Economic Forum in Davos, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and WIRED LIVE in London, amongst others.

In her new role as creative director at Iris, Avril will lead the health creative team to deliver compelling, award-winning work, underpinned by data and insights.

With 26 years in health and marketing roles, Marie was most recently group commercial head for Resonant Group, a group of agencies specialising in health PR, medical communications and patient engagement, where she was responsible for creating and overseeing the implementation of the group’s sales and marketing strategy.

In her new position as managing director, Health at Iris, Marie will lead and develop the health offering, managing its five-strong leadership team. She will oversee existing clients including Alcon and Convatec, as well as focussing on new business.

Harriet joins Iris from VCCP Health, where she was a project director, responsible for growing the creative production department, and refining and optimising the agency’s processes. During five years there, she was involved in multiple successful campaigns, including work for Teva and Edwards Lifesciences, which picked up three Cannes Lions.

She has previously held several project management positions in agencies such as Impero and True Digital.

As project director at Iris, Harriet will lead the production team for the health offering, overseeing delivery and directing all stages of the studio process to deliver the best work possible for clients.

The hires follow a series of new appointments to Iris’s senior leadership, including the appointment of Cath Brassington-Richards last June, who joined from Havas Lynx Group to take on the role of global chief health officer and bring Iris’s approach to participation marketing to the health sector.

Earlier this month, Iris’s campaign for health client Convatec was named runner-up of the Outernet and The Evening Standard’s £1million ad prize competition “London’s Greatest Advertising Competition”, which called on ad agencies and in-house brand teams to submit campaigns celebrating the diversity of London.

Claire Humphris, CEO, Iris, said, "Building on our strategic investment in health last year, we're thrilled to announce the addition of three new senior hires, each with a proven track record in navigating the complexities of the health industry.”

“We believe that driving participation in health, just as we would for other client sectors, is essential to ensuring optimised clinical outcomes, so Iris is perfectly placed to take advantage of the huge opportunity in health marketing.”

Avril Furness, new creative director, Iris, added, “I’m excited to be part of the health collective at Iris, identifying creative opportunities and pushing the status quo in this space.

"It’s a real honour to work with the team to deliver work for good.”

Marie Little, new managing director, Health at Iris, concluded, “Iris has developed a tried and tested model to access and influence the right communities with impactful creative campaigns which create participation with brands. This is exactly what the health market needs right now.

“By focusing on communities and participation, rather than delivering siloed messages, Iris has the power to activate and amplify the right networks of influence leading to optimised engagement.”

“It’s amazing to become the first MD for health at Iris, and I can’t wait to show more health clients how brilliant integrated marketing can be.”