dentsu has appointed Jared Pollock as Head of Social, reinforcing the agency's commitment to building a social offering designed around culture, creators and communities.

Pollock joins dentsu with more than a decade of experience spanning social media, creative strategy and paid media. He has worked with some of the world's most recognised brands, including McDonald's, Volkswagen, Nestlé, Destination NSW, and The Real Housewives of Auckland.

In this new role, Pollock will lead a social strategy of creative thinking and creator integration across dentsu Aotearoa, helping clients navigate the new social landscape where audience attention is harder to earn and traditional content approaches are requiring more strategic guidance.

While social platforms continue to evolve, Pollock believes many organisations are still approaching social media as a distribution channel rather than a place where communities, conversations and culture are formed.

"The opportunity isn't creating more content. It's creating more relevance," said Pollock.

"Audiences understand marketing better than ever before. The brands who win attention are the ones contributing to culture rather than interrupting it. The strongest social strategies start with people, communities and behaviour, not platforms."

Pollock advocates for creator-led thinking and believes creators should play a greater role in shaping ideas from the outset to drive cultural relevance.

"Creators are often closest to platform behaviour and trends as they evolve. The opportunity is to involve them earlier in the process and view them as strategic partners, not simply a function to be used in production."

Nikki McKelvie, Managing Director, Creative, said Pollock's appointment reflects dentsu's ambition to evolve its social offering in line with changing audience expectations.

"Jared brings a unique combination of strategic thinking, creative expertise and deep understanding of audience behaviour. Social has become one of the most crucial channels for building brand relevance, and his approach aligns perfectly with our ambition to help clients create work that people genuinely want to engage with, share and talk about."

His appointment forms part of dentsu’s continued investment in integrating its core capabilities that connect creativity, media, creators and culture to drive business growth and success for clients.