Droga5 London
Droga5 London has announced the promotions of two key creatives. Creative Directors Rick Dodds and Steve Howell will assume the roles of Executive Creative Directors, reporting to Chief Creative Officer David Kolbusz, effective immediately. Dodds and Howell have been creative partners for nearly 13 years, having first teamed up at Buckinghamshire New University before beginning their professional careers together at Saatchi & Saatchi London. Seven years at Saatchi & Saatchi led to Dodds and Howell joining Droga5 New York in 2012 as Art Director and Copywriter, respectively.
The pair created some remarkable campaigns, resulting in quickly being appointed Creative Directors in 2013. Following what was supposed to only be a brief stint at Droga5 London, Dodds and Howell have decided to make a permanent move to their native England to work across the agency’s client roster and new business initiatives. The creative duo has most recently produced work for Hobbs’s “Make an Understatement” campaign, and they are currently creating work for Vita Coco, Radox, Impulse, Belstaff and Rustlers.
Iris Worldwide
Iris has appointed the previous director of Brand Strategy at Buzzfeed, Digby Lewis, to a lead role within its newly formed global content division, called “Content That POPS.” The specialist proposition is focused on the creation, production, and effective distribution of content to deliver extraordinary value to consumers and clients. Lewis will take on the new role of Head of Platforms & Distribution, adding to the agency’s data-driven insight capabilities.
He will report into Matthew Kershaw, who joined the team as Managing Director of Content in November 2015. Both Kershaw and Lewis will lead the charge in globalising the proposition from the network’s London HQ, with teams already in place in Singapore, Amsterdam, Sydney, Shanghai, New York and Sao Paulo. Also playing leading roles in the new venture will be Hannah Beesley, who heads up the social practice at Iris, and Aideen Fox as Partnerships Manager, who is tasked with building partnerships for Iris clients based on value exchange rather than just monetary investment. The content team will sit at the heart of the agency, alongside and working closely with Iris Concise, the micro-network’s consulting, CRM, data & insight business.
BSSP
Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners is adding to its growing strategy department with three new seasoned strategists who bring award-winning and business building success stories to the agency’s already top-ranked strategy department. Joining the agency as Senior Strategists are Lindsey Morel and Halsey Stowe. Morel is joining BSSP from Connelly Partners where she was Manager of Brand Planning and helped grow the planning discipline at the agency. She also worked at Digitas as a Senior Creative Strategist, where she contributed to the Effie-winning Bank of America, Merrill Edge campaign.
She has also worked at WPP-owned RTC and Grey Global and contributed to RTC’s win of a Cannes Lion in Pharma. Stowe is joining BSSP from 360i in New York, where he was a Senior Strategist working on Lean Cuisine, Canon and Coca-Cola. His work on Lean Cuisine contributed to the agency’s Grand Ogilvy Award from the ARF. He also held planning roles at Arnold Worldwide. In addition, Alex Pappas is joining the agency as a digital strategist. He was previously at Deutsch where he worked on such accounts as Sprint, Target, Pizza Hut and Volkswagen.
Deutsch
Deutsch has announced the final touch on the reinvigoration of its New York office with the hiring of Dan Kelleher as Chief Creative Officer and Partner. Additionally, Deutsch’s Los Angeles office will supercharge its creative offering with the hiring of renowned Wieden+Kennedy creative, Jason Bagley, as Chief Creative Officer and Partner. In New York, Kelleher is the missing piece in a dynamic team led by Val DiFebo. His work includes the recently lauded BMW 360-degree digital video experience, which he oversaw at KBS as co-CCO.
At Grey, meanwhile he launched the DirecTV “Cable Effects” campaign that became a cultural success earning numerous Gold Lions. On the West Coast, meanwhile, Bagley will join the agency to further build on that office’s creative success for iconic clients such as VW, Target, Taco Bell and Sprint, among others. Teamed with the offices' creative leadership at Deutsch, Bagley will continue to elevate the work on the esteemed roster of brands.
Screenvision Media
Screenvision Media, a national cinema advertising leader in the US, has announced that Sir John Hegarty, the iconic advertising Creative Director, will join them as Creative Chair in Residence, an industry first, starting May 2016 for 3 years. Hegarty is one of the highest-acclaimed creative visionaries in the industry and brings to Screenvision Media more than five decades of creative insight and a shared passion for compelling storytelling. Hegarty, who co-founded Bartle Bogle Hegarty in 1982 with partners John Bartle and Nigel Bogle, has garnered awards at D&AD, Cannes and British Television, and among others, was given the D&AD President's Award for outstanding achievement and admitted to the US One Show Creative Hall of Fame in 2005. In 2007 he was Knighted by the Queen for services to the advertising industry, and in 2011 was the first recipient of Cannes Lion of St. Mark for outstanding contribution to creativity. As Creative Chair in Residence, Sir John will offer creative council to advertising partners during the development of big-screen ad content.
Definition 6
The digital agency Definition 6 has announced industry veteran Diana Lochridge as Executive Producer/Creative Director of its Entertainment Division. She will play a pivotal role in enhancing the team’s hybrid model for integrating entertainment marketing with creative, social, and digital expertise. Lochridge joins Definition 6 on the heels of the agency being named as Social Agency of Record for WEtv. In her new role, she will be supported by a team of award-winning content creators and social strategists who have developed branded video, imagery, and messaging across all screens and social media platforms, from promo campaigns to live-tweeting during broadcasts to fan-content curation. Lochridge has already overseen a soup-to-nuts campaign for the TBS promotion of the iHeartRadio Music Awards, which aired during the NCAA basketball tournament known as March Madness.
BBH
Sarah Watson, the Chief Strategy Officer of BBH New York, has been appointed as the Global Chief Strategy Officer of the BBH Group. She will work alongside Neil Munn, Global Chief Executive Officer, and Pelle Sjoenell, the Worldwide Chief Creative Officer. Watson will partner with Sjoenell, who was promoted to Worldwide Chief Creative Officer in January, to drive the agency’s Global creative output, creating world-class ideas that drive growth and shape popular culture. Sarah first joined BBH 14 years ago, originally starting at BBH London as a planner on brands including Johnnie Walker, Vodafone and Levi's. Sarah was then Head of Planning at DDB London before returning to BBH in 2011, this time as Chief Strategy Officer of the agency’s New York office, a role she will continue to hold. She has since transformed strategy and planning at the agency with an “All killer no filler” mind-set.
DPDK
Digital agency DPDK has announced the expansion of its team with six new hires across the business: Account Director; Eva Koegenboeg, Producer; Laura Tuininga, Developers; Marnix Janssen and Colin van Eenige, and Motion Designers; Trevis Janssen and Ryan Schuijer. Dutch-born account director Eva Koegenboeg has worked in Paris for the last six years at digital agencies Wunderman and Razorfish Paris (formerly Nurun). Prior to that, she worked in the Netherlands on several global accounts such as L'Oréal Paris, Microsoft, Siemens and P&G. Laura Tuininga is DPDK’s new producer. In the past she worked in the marketing/communications department of IT-provider The Future Group and advertising and media agency Toob as a project manager. She has also worked client-side at T-Mobile. Developers Marnix Janssen and Colin van Eenige, and motion designers Trevis Janssen and Ryan Schuijer all started their careers as graduate trainees at DPDK and have now been given permanent roles within the company.
Publicis Healthcare
Kipp Jarecke-Cheng has been named Chief Communications Officer for Publicis Healthcare Communications Group (PHCG), the world's largest health-oriented communications network. In this new role, Jarecke-Cheng will lead communications across the network's 15 agencies, including Digitas Health LifeBrands, Langland, Publicis Health Media, Publicis Touchpoint Solutions, and Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness. Jarecke-Cheng will report to Nick Colucci, CEO, PHCG, and sit on the Executive and Operations Committees. A digital marketing communications veteran, he brings more than 20 years of experience to PHCG. Most recently he served as director of marketing at FOUR32C, an independent digital design studio in New York. Prior to that, he was director of global public relations and communications at Nurun, a digital design consultancy that was acquired by Publicis Groupe in 2014.
Wunderman
Wunderman, a leading global digital agency, has announced that Sami Thessman has been appointed as Chief Creative Officer of the flagship New York office. Thessman joins Wunderman New York from Havas Worldwide where he served as Executive Creative Director. With more than 17 years of international experience, Thessman has demonstrated the ability to create award-winning global brand campaigns.
In his new role, Thessman will lead numerous high-profile accounts, including United Airlines, Coca-Cola, E*TRADE and Isle of Capri, partnering with Jamie Gallo, President of Wunderman New York, and working closely with Lincoln Bjorkman, Wunderman's global CCO. Prior to joining Havas New York in 2015, Thessman was the global executive creative director for Hong Kong-based TBWA, where he successfully led Infiniti and was a member of TBWA's global Digital Arts Network.
