DDB New Zealand has appointed world-renowned creative Damon Stapleton as Chief Creative Officer, joining Shane Bradnick who has been confirmed as permanent Executive Creative Director.
Stapleton is one of the world’s most awarded creatives, recognized for leading the Trillion Dollar Campaign for The Zimbabwean newspaper. He has won over 100 international awards including a Cannes Grand Prix, a Grand Clio, an ADC Black Cube, a D&AD Black Pencil and took first place on the All Guns Blazing list in the Gunn Report.
Stapleton was responsible for leading the incredibly successful Adidas campaign for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, which sold over a million football jerseys. Creativity magazine in America and Big Won Report in the UK have ranked Stapleton in the top 10 ECDs globally.
Justin Mowday, CEO DDB New Zealand, says he is absolutely rapt to have Stapleton join the agency. “He’s such a phenomenal talent and his work extends past epic TV spots and delves into experiential, activation and digital. Damon knows how to produce world-class work that can’t be ignored. He’s going to be a very exciting leader of our creative product.
“We’ve also been on the search for the best possible ECD and have realised he’s already here in Shane, so we’re excited to confirm him as our permanent ECD. Damon and Shane are both modern thinkers and together they will be a true creative force,” Mowday adds.
Marty O’Halloran, Chairman and CEO DDB Group Australia and New Zealand, says Stapleton’s hire is another example of DDB investing in the best talent across the region. “His experience is second-to-none and I’m looking forward to seeing that correlate into results for our clients.”
Stapleton built his reputation over more than 14 years working as an ECD in Africa and Australia at TBWA Gavin Reddy, TBWA Hunt Lascaris and most recently at Saatchi and Saatchi Australia, and has worked on brands as diverse as Heineken, Nissan, BMW, Adidas, Jameson, Toyota and Cadbury.
Stapleton says, “I am incredibly excited to be asked to lead such a great agency and I am really looking forward to working with Shane again. Together, I know we will make some pretty special secret sauce.”
ECD Shane Bradnick, who has known Stapleton for over 16 years, says he is an inspirational person to be around with a brilliant, creative mind.
“It’s great to be reuniting with Damon. I knew him before we were in advertising, I’ve known him whilst in advertising and if there is life after advertising, I really hope to know him then too. He’s possibly one of the funniest men ever to win a D&AD Black Pencil and I look forward to us doing some great work together,” Shane explains.
A man of many talents, Stapleton is not only one of the world’s most awarded creative directors but has dabbled in stand-up comedy, is an experienced photographer and photojournalist, and plays husband and father to two after hours.
Stapleton will begin at DDB on 1 July 2014 and will work closely with Shane across the entire DDB client portfolio.
