Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand has continued its frenetic period of hiring, this time managing to lure top London creative Angus Wardlaw and ex-DDB suit Simon Wedde to the Auckland office.
Wardlaw, who will take up the role of creative director, partnering Tim Huse, joins the team after four years at CHI & Partners, where he worked on a broad range of accounts including The Independent, Home Office (Electoral Commission), Airbus, The Prince’s Trust charity, Virgin Atlantic and Toyota.
With just over a decade in the industry, Wardlaw has amassed an impressive collection of silverware, with awards from Cannes, Creative Circle, Eurobest, CLIO, Creative Review and ANDY.
Saatchi’s executive creative director Dylan Harrison says nabbing Wardlaw, who has a New Zealand-born wife and eight-year old child, is a huge coup for the agency.
“One of his last Toyota ads was run in twenty international territories and became the UK’s most popular car ad for 2009. During the same year, part of Angus’s rebranding campaign for the Carphone Warehouse saw Christmas sales increase by 200 percent,” he says.
Likewise, Simon Wedde’s appointment to lead the Telecom business is a big win for the agency. Formerly managing partner at DDB Auckland, Wedde has worked on blue-chip accounts including SKY Television, The Warehouse, Wattie’s, New Zealand Lotteries, Frucor, Masterfoods and VISA.
“Simon knows the New Zealand market inside-out,” says chief executive Nicola Bell. “He’s highly experienced in business transformation, customer engagement, and in driving award-winning creative and sales results. We are thrilled to have Angus and Simon onboard. They are true believers in the great adventure we as a company are embarking upon.”
Wardlaw starts at the agency on 10 May with Wedde starting on 19 May.
