Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore and Malaysia executive creative director Bruce Matchett has decided to retire and turn his attention to other creative projects.
 
Scottish-born Aussie expat Matchett joined Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore in 2010, and has also been creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand. He also has had a long career as ECD at Singleton Ogilvy & Mather Sydney and first worked in Asia as ECD at JWT India.
 
"It's been a great experience being here in Singapore. Saatchi & Saatchi is brimming with confidence once again and there are some wonderfully talented people now in this office. I wish them every success," says Matchett.
 
"It was Bruce who convinced me to come to Singapore three years ago and work with him and the passionate and dedicated individuals at Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore," says Paul Roebuck, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore and Malaysia. "While the Agency has grown to 120 people since then, Bruce remains one of the most truly creative people I have had the good fortune to work with and he will be missed greatly."
 
An announcement of a new ECD for Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore and Malaysia will be made in the New Year.

Saatchi & Saatchi Australia has replaced incumbent BWM as the new creative agency for Australian-based health insurer, nib health funds.

After winning the competitive tender process, the appointment will see Saatchi & Saatchi Australia deliver nib's creative service across print, television and online media for the next three years.

nib Group Manager Australian Residents Health Insurance, Rhod McKensey, said he is looking forward to working with the new agency as the health fund continues to evolve its brand development: "Throughout the tender process Saatchi & Saatchi Australia clearly demonstrated a high level of strategic thinking and creative excellence, as well as good cultural alignment with nib," says McKensey.

Streets Ice Cream proves how generous people really are. Through a live experiment, customers were told that their ice cream had already been paid for by the customer before them.

People were surprised and excited by their free ice cream. Customers were then given the opportunity to pay for the next person's ice cream and bring a moment of joy to someone they had never meet before. 100% of people said yes... and the Streets Chain of Joy was created.

VIEW THE CONCEPT

Client: Unilever Australia
Production: Out of the box production
Director: Olivier Mamet
Producer: Hamish Roxburgh

One million Australians have opened their ears to Pandora, the leading internet radio service, less than one year since the internet radio service was established.

Pandora reached the magic million registered user mark midway through November, ahead of predictions and also announced that it is moving to enable its commercial model through advertising.  Pandora will offer a combination of audio and display advertising across all platforms - along with targeting based on age, gender and postcode location.

A radio campaign via Marketforce, Perth for internet provider Internode has won the fourth round of the 2014 Siren Awards.

Creatively demonstrating what could happen if someone took over the airwaves, "Bad Things Happen - SFX" featured 'geeky' sound effects played simultaneously on all Adelaide commercial radio stations. Its win was the second consecutive Sirens round victory for the agency/client partnership, after round three's winning campaign, "The Geekiest Promo in the Universe".

LISTEN TO THE WINNING SPOTS

The opening night of hit musical The Lion King in Sydney tonight has been marked by a series of media firsts including a fleet of fully wrapped Lion King taxis that required legislation to be changed by the NSW government.
 
To celebrate its arrival on Australian shores, Slingshot Media was tasked with integrating the musical into the Sydney landscape and into the hearts and minds of those living in the city.
 
The Lion King is a Broadway musical phenomenon and an iconic part of the New York theatre scene. Inspired to deliver over and above traditional media channels, Slingshot set about bringing a piece of New York to life in Sydney in the form of its iconic yellow cabs, effectively making them a part of the Sydney taxi scene.

Clemenger BBDO, Melbourne has teamed up with one of the directors of Flight of the Conchords, Taika Waititi to produce a series of new ads for Carlton Dry that launch today to show audiences what it means to say #HelloBeer.
 
Brought to life by four inventive house mates, the Carlton Dry #HelloBeer spots aim to be a celebration of everything the brand represents - kicking back with mates and having a good time.

VIEW THE SPOTS

Case Study: Continuing the company's focus of telling stories like no other, the integrated storytelling business has broken new ground in the visual effects realm to produce computer-generated automotive content for Mazda Australia's Mazda 2.

Says Dale Roberts, Kojo CEO: "Taking a proactive approach, Kojo found a new way to produce high-quality car sequences quickly and cost-effectively for Melbourne agency CHE Proximity and their client Mazda.

VIEW THE CASE STUDY

In March 2013, 303Lowe contacted Fin Design + Effects about an exciting series of scripts for its client - Challenger Limited via 303Lowe, Sydney.

Fin Design + Effects has just finished the remaining spots. The trio of 30 second scripts humanise the often dry world of financial products by turning each spot into an allegorical story set in a world of stop motion animated origami.  

VIEW THE 'MOUNTAIN' SPOT
VIEW THE 'TREE' SPOT
VIEW THE 'BALLOON' SPOT

AWARD, Australia's pre-eminent creative industries body, has today announced the line-up of the 35th AWARD Awards judges to work under chairman of judges, Sir John Hegarty, founding partner of BBH. 
 
Selected chairmen include Steve Coll - Havas Worldwide; Steve Rogers - Revolver; Steve Cochran - Colenso BBDO; Grant Rutherford - Mojo; Ben Welsh - M&C Saatchi; Paul Reardon - Whybin TBWA; Iain McDonald - Razorfish; Michaela Webb - Round Studio and Damon Stapleton - Saatchi & Saatchi.
 
A total of 100 of Asia Pacific's creatives will be tasked with selecting the 35th  AWARD award winners, with the first jury starting on 30th January 2014.
 
Says Mark Harricks, chairman of AWARD: "The AWARD Awards set the benchmark for creative excellence in the Asia Pacific region and it is through the support of our industry's top creative talent that we are able to uncover the brightest ideas being produced in the region today. We are therefore delighted to announce such an impressive jury for the 35th AWARD Awards, and for the fourth consecutive year, a truly international chairman of judges in Sir John Hegarty."

Consumer Affairs Victoria has recently launched an online game, "Party For Your Rights", with the goal to educate youth on their consumer rights via Bliss Media.

"Party for you Rights" is the result of recent research which has found youth aged 16-24 are the most poorly-informed  of any consumer group, with 41% of youth surveyed in 2011 stating they had no idea of their post-purchasing rights.

WATCH THE VIDEO
PLAY THE GAME

Last night's New Zealand Film Awards saw four of The Sweet Shop's directors come away smiling with multiple wins.
 
Directing duo Mark Albiston (near left) and Louis Sutherland (far left) won big for their debut feature Shopping. The duo picked up Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography and Best Poster Design. The film, which has already received a series of accolades this year with a premiere at Sundance, a win at the Berlin International Film Festival and selected to screen at numerous film festivals around the world, and last night was yet another notch on the belt.

VIEW THE WINNERS

Some things don't always go to plan, as highlighted in a new digital campaign from Victoria's Homebuyers Centre, targeting 25-35 year-old first home buyers via Motion Picture Company.

Unveiled this week the new campaign is the first viral campaign of this nature for Homebuyers Centre in Victoria.

VIEW THE SPOT

In 2013, Australia's most influential media companies have united behind the industry not-for-profit body UN LTD (previously MAYDAY) to tackle the consequences of youth disadvantage that affects over 680,000 young people in Australia today, and have raised a colossal $1.5m.

UN LTD Media is the original funds generation vehicle for UN LTD and since 2006 it has distributed over $8m in value to fund programs that meet UN LTD's community impact and success criteria for "UN doing" youth disadvantage.

The UN LTD movement supports the most innovative and effective youth non-for-profit organisations in providing critical services to young people deemed most at need.

Central, the contemporary retail space located within Central Park (a joint venture between Frasers Property Australia and Sekisui House Australia), has introduced Hipster Santa, the contemporary answer to traditional Christmas via BMF.

He's how old St. Nick would look if Central had a say. He's not big on flying reindeer; he prefers his fixed-gear bike. And don't even think about leaving him out milk and cookies; he only accepts coconut water and gluten-free macarons.

BMF's integrated campaign includes an ambient PR stunt, outdoor (street posters and chalk stencils), point of sale, an interactive digital display and a social strategy where Hipster Santa will be active across Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. The campaign's creative strategy is to build brand recognition, increase the public's engagement and interaction inside The Living Mall and activate Christmas sales.

VIEW THE CAMPAIGN HUB

With many people worried about missing the last recommended posting date for Christmas, leading Australian wine brand, Jacob's Creek, has launched True Greetings, an online solution with Facebook Connect to create truly unique holiday eCards via digital agency, AnalogFolk.

Recognising how hard it can be to craft personalised greetings over the busy holiday season, True Greetings takes the interactions exchanged by two people on Facebook to generate a thoughtful, personalised eCard.

Nylon Studios has announced that composer Michael Yezerski (left) has been nominated for an Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) award for a second year in a row for Best Original Score in a Feature Film for his work on Australian surf drama Drift.

Yezerski collaborated with Drift co-directors Morgan O'Neill and Ben Nott, producers Michele Bennett, Myles Pollard and Tim Duffy, along with music supervisor Andrew Kotatko to create a musical score that would evoke the sounds of the 1970s and transition seamlessly with the film's source tracks.

Says Yezerski: "It's a great honour to receive this nomination and it's fantastic to get industry recognition for Drift. It's a film I'm immensely proud of and I was very pleased to be a part of such a skilled team of filmmakers."

Clemenger BBDO Melbourne's highly engaging and artistic campaign, 'The Melbourne Remote Control Tourist' has impressed the judges and been named the winner of IAB Australia's Creative Showcase 8.3.

The Monkeys has followed in second place with its unconventional campaign 'Stay Living' for Boost; and Holler has secured third place with its 'Land of Quattro' campaign for Audi.

MercerBell's second annual charity art auction and party for staff and clients has raised $5,500 for their charity client - the Australian Paralympic Committee, with two of the agency's staff donating their books for the cause.

Lucy Wallrock - a top 6 finalist in the last season of MasterChef - provided the first-edition of her new baking cookbook, while Gene Stapleton has donated one of the first of the children's books he has illustrated, called Hump T-Rex.

Responsys has teamed-up with 20 of the world's most influential marketers to predict what's in-store for the digital marketing industry in 2014.

Presented via slideshow, it contains insights from globally renown names such as Augie Ray, director of Word of Mouth Marketing at American Express; David Edelman, partner, marketing & sales practice at McKinsey; Greg Stuart, CEO of the Mobile Marketing Association and Ann Handley, chief content officer at MarketingProfs, and many more.

One of the main takeouts it that in order to succeed next year it's crucial for marketers to develop individual experiences for their customers. And to do this well and at scale, marketers must orchestrate their communications based on customer data like preferences, behaviour and profile information.

VIEW THE SLIDE-SHOW

Established Sydney creative services agency, 2c Artist Management, is launching the next stage of their brand overhaul, with a new print, online and motion campaign created by Holt.
 
The integrated campaign from creative director Christopher Holt and his eponymous design studio, features print and online tease executions, which resolve with a short film and commercial realised by Stampede. The launch tomorrow follows the reveal of 2c's new brand and identity earlier this year, also created by Holt.

VIEW THE SPOT

OgilvyOne Sydney has further bolstered its planning credentials, adding two strategists to its established team as a result of new business wins and increased client demand.

Melissa Warren (centre) joins the agency as senior strategic planner, and Andrew Braithwaite (far left) as strategic planner, with both appointments effective immediately. The duo has a breadth of planning skills across a range of industries, and bring strong local and international experience.

In its first campaign for Cancer Institute NSW, Soap Creative has launched Pretty Shady - a lifestyle brand that encourages young Australians to be part of the generation that stops skin cancer, one summer at a time.
 
Each summer, Pretty Shady will release five good-looking items that protect you from the sun - shade, clothing, hats, sunglasses and sunscreen.  These items will be given away for free at www.prettyshady.com where you can also learn the facts about skin cancer prevention.

VIEW THE VIDEO

Cutting Edge has just released its second installment of Embryo, it's very own compilation of up and coming bands that are making their mark on the music industry.  

According to Nic Harman, marketing director Cutting Edge, the idea behind Embryo is to help introduce bands to brands.

In an unlikely marriage, non-profit foundation Karma Currency and waste removal and recycling company, Speedie Waste have joined forces to encourage all Australians to spend less on Christmas gifts that could end up in the rubbish this year and instead, consider a gift to charity.
 
When Vince Barilla, CEO of Speedie Waste was first approached to "wrap-up" his truck in Christmas paper he thought it was a practical joke. But upon hearing it was for charity, he knew that it was for a good cause and thought they were onto something.

Each week Bestads picks the very best advertising in the world, in every medium - which is reviewed by a top creative director or team to select their own personal favourites.

This week's guest judge is Mark Tutssel, the worldwide chief creative officer at Leo Burnett.

READ HIS REVIEW

It's soon time to pick CB Australian Agency of the Year and NZ Agency of the Year -- and also to work out the 2014 CB Creativity/Billings Index (or Hot+Cold Chart - the 2013 chart is pictured left).

The entry deadline has been extended to the new date of Wednesday, December 18.

As far as most agency creative directors (and increasingly, more CEOs) on both sides of the Tasman are concerned, CB Agency of the Year is the most coveted of all trade mag titles to win - and where an agency is placed on our annual chart is critical to many agency's new business performance in the coming year (that's the bit of most interest to CEOs!).

Yoke has announced the launch of 'A Brief Night', a hands-on design event for design students, graduates and junior designers with the first event to take place on 6pm Thursday, February 6, 2014 at 42 Cambridge Street, Collingwood.

The night will be fast-paced and you'll be set to work on the sort of jobs you would be likely to encounter on the job.

While uni or college offers an aspiring designer the luxury of time and space to complete their course work, it's not always something that they will be afforded outside the confides of the classroom.

Download more info here - YOKE PRESENTS 'A BRIEF NIGHT'[1].pdf

Music and sound studio Uncanny Valley joined collaborator Plasma last Thursday at Nude Lounge, atop the Australian Youth Hotel in Glebe, to celebrate a smashing 2013.

As the drinks flowed and the silver spandex was donned, UV music producer (and keytar player) Justin Shave joined QCE star band La Fiesta Sound System to get the party in full swing.

Federation University Australia, created by the joining of the University of Ballarat and Monash University's Gippsland Campus, has joined forces with Cubed Communications to create an integrated multimedia campaign.

In it, the university tells students that when it comes to making big decisions about changing preferences and future study, FedUni really 'has their backs'.

WATCH THE 30" SPOT
WATCH THE 15" SPOT

Today, Facebook is taking a look back at the people, moments and places that mattered most on Facebook in 2013.
 
Conversations happening all over Facebook offer a unique snapshot of the world, and this year was no different. Every day, people post about the topics and milestones that are important to them - everything from announcing an engagement, to discussing breaking news, or even celebrating a favourite athlete or sports team.
 
Facebook has analysed the past year's worth of these posts to reveal the top trends for 2013.

In an international creative coup, animation studio Sixty40 has signed the LA-based motion graphic, live action and animation director Justin Leibow. Representing the former co-founder of Superfad in the Asia Pacific market, Sixty40 creative director Mark Simpson will work closely with Leibow on various Australian and international projects.

Residing at the Paramount Pictures Building in Surry Hills, the 12-year established Sixty40 is in a renaissance with festival appearances, conference panels and mentorships aplenty - many elements that enrich not just the work but the industry as a whole. Leibow became an admirer of, and later a close collaborator with, Simpson after the two met when both speaking at Semi-Permanent in Sydney.

Queensland public relations, communications and marketing agency Graymedia has developed a new national branding strategy for Baseball Australia that for the first time unites all seven state associations under the one logo.

Part of Baseball Australia's wider strategy to cement baseball as a leading sport in Australia, Graymedia won a nationwide competitive pitch to develop a professional new look that would instil pride within the organisation's members and create stronger brand recognition across the country.

DDB celebrated Chistmas this year with its Mad Hatters Ball themed party at the Oxford Art Factory in Darlinghurst.

DDBers headed down the rabbit hole and into an Alice in Wonderland themed paradise.