Magnus Dahlquist appointed CEO of NoA Connect Sweden – building a full-funnel media challenger

New leadership setup strengthens NoA Connect, NoA Elevate and NoA | Åkestam Holst's joint offering in Sweden, bringing media and creativity closer together to drive measurable outcomes – with an ambition to become the Nordics' leading full-funnel partner.

From 1 March 2026, Magnus Dahlquist will step in as CEO of NoA Connect in Sweden, taking over from Jannis Hristofilopoulos, who will assume the newly created role of Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) across NoA Connect and NoA Elevate in Sweden.

"With this new setup, we’re making a clear, offensive move to accelerate growth and strengthen our commercial collaboration across the two businesses – and to capture the value of using new technology to scale our offering in close connection with NoA | Åkestam Holst," says Pelle Josephson, incoming CEO of NoA Elevate and NoA Sweden.

The appointment also marks a further consolidation of NoA’s media offering. Bluebird – the performance agency co-founded by Dahlquist and acquired by NoA in 2022 – will be fully integrated into NoA Connect, and the Bluebird brand will be retired.

A full-funnel media partner for modern marketers

The shift in Sweden builds on learnings from NoA Connect’s full-funnel journey in Norway. Those learnings are now being scaled to strengthen NoA’s integrated media offering across the Nordics.

With the appointments, NoA Connect is sharpening its ambition to become a technology- and data-driven full-funnel media partner, combining consultative advisory with executional excellence and a clear focus on measurable business outcomes. Built for impact, not activity.

"Our ambition is to become the Nordics’ leading technology- and data-driven full-funnel media partner – and a challenger that brings media and creativity back together,” says Magnus Dahlquist, CEO of NoA Connect. “When media and creative work as one, brands move faster, waste less, and create impact that multiplies."

Closer integration, with creativity as a profit multiplier

In parallel, the new CCO role strengthens collaboration across NoA Connect and NoA Elevate – making it easier for clients to access a more integrated offering across the funnel.

By bringing media and creativity closer together, NoA aims to help clients reduce marketing waste and unlock stronger commercial impact – because the quality of the creative idea is often the biggest multiplier on the value of media investment.

"We’re building a more integrated way of working where strategy and execution operate as one – from brand building to conversion," says Jannis Hristofilopoulos. "My focus is to help clients grow by connecting the right capabilities across the funnel – turning insight into execution with measurable effect, in close collaboration with our clients and their media partners."

"This isn’t about expanding services – it’s about expanding results. When creative, media and production all pull in the same direction, with marketing science at its core, growth accelerates. This move will strengthen our media expertise towards our clients, regardless of their partner set-up," Erik Årnell, CEO of NoA | Åkestam Holst adds.

About Magnus Dahlquist

Magnus Dahlquist is a Swedish media and digital growth leader and co-founder of Bluebird, founded in 2018 and acquired by NoA in 2022. As CEO, he helped scale Bluebird with a focus on performance marketing, and on improving transparency and effectiveness in media buying and management. From 1 March 2026, he will step in as CEO of NoA Connect Sweden, bringing an entrepreneurial, data-driven approach to technology- and data-driven full-funnel media.