Toyota exec moves to marketing agency

EXPERIENCED former Toyota executive George Cornwell has taken up a new role with Sydney-based marketing agency AdTorque Edge as a shareholder and executive director in charge of strategy and innovation.

Mr Cornwell has moved from Toyota Financial Services (TFS), where for more than a decade he was a major figure at the market-leading Japanese brand’s finance and insurance arm, which is billed as Australia’s largest automotive lender.

He spent the past seven years as general manager of strategy, innovation and marketing at TFS, having previously served for a year as senior manager of strategy and marketing and a further 12 months or so as senior project manager of Toyota Money.

This was punctuated by a two-year stint as national manager of franchise development for Toyota Australia, from 2008 to 2010, while earlier in his career Mr Cornwell spent six years as head of sales for Toyota Finance New Zealand (2001-2007).

Other notable roles in New Zealand included three years with Nissan as national fleet sales manager, two years with Esanda as sales territory manager (northern region) and a year with Ford as a new-car sales manager.

As general manager at TFS, Mr Cornwell was responsible for a number of portfolios including marketing, strategy, loyalty and new product development.

AdTorque Edge specialises in the automotive lifestyle and leisure industries, operating in five countries with more than 850 clients on its books.

The full-service agency was formed in 2017 through the merger of AdTorque Strategic Services (a joint venture with John Singleton Advertising) and Edge Online Consulting.

“It’s a very different experience moving from client to agency side,” Mr Cornwell said. “But I was really attracted by the capability AdTorque Edge brings to dealers and OEMs in what these days is a pretty complex marketing environment.

“The team is a great balance of technology/creative specialists and people from the retail environment who know what it takes to sell cars.”

AdTorque Edge executive chairman John O’Neill said Mr Cornwell’s industry experience would be important as the agency was going through “a major growth spurt in regards to product offerings and staff”.

The company said Mr Cornwell will work closely with AdTorque Edge’s existing dealer and OEM customers across Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, “identifying emerging trends and positioning their businesses for sustainable growth and success”.