fbpx

DDB goes on recruitment safari, poaches a few retail heavyweights

DDB has nabbed a host of new (and some old) talent for its retail department, with ex DDBer Mark Lorrigan returning to the mothership and teaming up with Jordan Sky in the newly-created role of joint head of retail positions, and three more newbies adding some firepower to the arsenal.

Sky joins DDB from DraftFCB where he was lead creative on the Westfield account. He also worked on the Noel Leeming Group account. Prior to this, he spent over three years at Saatchi & Saatchi, where, blow me down, he was a partner with Lorrigan, who was creative director of Team Saatchi for four years, on Telecom, House of Travel, Toyota and KFC.

Completing this Saatchi’s switcheroo, DDB’s executive creative director Toby Talbot also worked with the new DDB pair at Saatchi’s. Of course, those were slightly happier days for the agency, although winning the pitch for the Cadbury account from DDB (it is thought an announcement is expected tomorrow) will certainly put some much-needed wind in the Saatchi sails.

DDB’s ex retail creative director Kim Ellison, who resigned in May at the same time as creative director Adam Kanzer and headed up the hill to Hotfoot, was at DDB for almost five years and worked primarily on the retail behemoth that is The Warehouse. DDB also has Sky TV, McDonald’s, Watties and New Zealand Lotteries on its retail roster, so Lorrigan was brought in as a contractor to fill the gap and, after some solid work in the last few months, it’s not too surprising to find that he’s continuing in a full-time capacity.

When Lorrigan was spoken to just after announcing his departure from Saatchi’s earlier this year, he felt retail was very strong, as evidenced by the number of ads in the Sunday papers. Consumers weren’t thinking about buying anything at the time unless it was a deal, he said. And not much seems to have changed since then.

Talbot: “I’m really stoked to be reunited with Mark and Jordan again whom I last worked with at Saatchi’s three years ago. They are the consummate retail team. Mark has already made a significant impact with a number of our clients in the five months he’s been here on contract. Mark, of course, is no stranger to the place having previously worked at DDB for seven years. Everyone loves having him back.”

As for the other additions, Natalie Lowe, also from DraftFCB, has recently joined as senior account director on The Warehouse business. She spent four years on accounts including Pascoes, Avis and Noel Leeming Group at Draft, and prior to this spent a year at Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney managing Nestle, Toyota General Mills and Lion Nathan.

Creative team Michelle Rajalingam and Raymond McKay, who have worked on Farmers, Superliquor, Westpac, Air New Zealand and New World at .99. round off the new faces.

“Raymond and Michelle are an exciting team. Their work is fresh, full of ideas and testament to the fact that retail is not about the lowest common denominator. It’s exciting to have a really strong retail offering sitting amongst the DDB brand creatives.”

About Author

Avatar photo

One of the talented StopPress Team of Content Producers made this post happen.

Comments are closed.