DDB Sydney appoints ex-Publicis Mojo NZ’s Frances Clayton to join its strategic unit

DDB Sydney has announced the appointment of leading strategist, Frances Clayton (left), to its growing strategic division which includes its internationally best in class social intelligence unit.

Clayton joins DDB Group from Publicis Mojo where she was head of planning and discovery working on projects for Lion brands – Boags, Hahn and James Squire; Nestle; PayPal; Virgin Mobile and Toyota. Clayton’s philosophical approach to strategy is, “Leave the beaten path. Leap in and get involved. Connect with real people. Find the truth. Look for the change. Tell the stories.”

Says Clayton: “Strategic Planning is changing, just as our industry is changing, and that’s exciting. But I still believe the secret to strategy is empathy. Good planners know how to stand in someone else’s shoes. They need to be great listeners and observers and I don’t think that will ever change.

“DDB is an impressive and successful agency, but they’re also curious and hungry. I’ve worked briefly with Dylan in the past and he, Chris, Leif and I share a lot of the same beliefs about strategy and creativity so I’m super excited to join the team. At Mojo I had the chance to work with some of the best people in the business. I loved my time there and will miss them all.”

Prior to Publicis Mojo, Clayton was part of the strategic departments for Saatchi & Saatchi NY and WW respectively where she most recently held the position of director of xploring Saatchi & Saatchi WW.

Says Leif Stromnes, DDB Group Sydney managing director strategy and innovation: “We are very excited to welcome Fran to the DDB Sydney team. Her socio-logical and discovery based approach to strategic projects will add a strong sense of depth and further intelligence to an already diverse team. She is a true modern thinker.”

DDB Sydney boasts one of the largest communications strategic departments in Australia with a current  team of 17.

Says Stromnes: “It could be argued that the traditional strategic offering and department strucuture is outdated. We are now in the business of authoring socially creative and modern participatory campaigns and to do this we need diversity in our skill sets. We currently hosts specialists across social, community, brand, user experience, digital, insights, technology and channel planning.

“It is one of the most exciting times to be in planning and in recent months DDB Sydney has invested heavily in its people and the deployment of its technogical and digital capabilities to produce campaigns such as McDonald’s Track My Maccas, Tim Tams Love More and Tourism Australia’s Lions Campaigns.”