As we all know, ’tis been a season of flux and upheaval in adland. And the Colenso stable will have a distinctly different look to it in the new year.
ECD Nick Worthington has confirmed the rumours that Nick Garrett, BMF Sydney’s group account director, will take over the reins from Brent Smart, starting in January. But it’s not quite official yet: a release is expected later today or on Monday.
And along with changes to the management structure, Colenso’s creative department has had a bit of a spring clean too. “The mighty Josh [Lancaster] and Jamie [Hitchcock]” are moving on to start their own agency very shortly and talented French art director Emmanuel Bougneres is also heading back to the homeland.
Bougneres has spent two years with Colenso and has been in New Zealand for nearly five years, previously working with Toby Talbot at DDB.
“The main reason I’m going home is because I have a [seven-year-old] child over there. So it’s time to go back,” he says.”I think we’ve done lots of really good pieces of work with Nick [Worthington]. Some very productive work.”
Some of his personal favourites include the ‘bleeding billboard’ for Papakura District Council, the ‘Yeti’ TVC for LandSAR (search and rescue) and the Mercedes billboards.
He’s loved the creative freedom and comparative lack of specialisation in the New Zealand industry, which has enabled him to focus more on filmic art direction.
“You do have more freedom. It’s one of the main reasons I came. You can do film quite quickly and easily here. It’s been a really great experience.”
Worthington says he will miss Bougneres’ “wonderful” art direction, but he has enlisted some able replacements in the form of Tom Paine from Ogilvy, who will be teaming up with Karl Fleet, and Levi Slavin, who will also start in the new year.
Despite the staff changes, the good work continues to flow from the Colenso towers and Worthington says the recent spot for the New Zealand Book Council, which has been a year-long project, is “going quietly bananas” at the moment.
