Darren Spiller and Dave Brown promoted to lead newly structured DDB Melbourne group – Simon Bagnasco promoted to the role of executive CD

DDB Group Australia has announced that incumbent RAPP Melbourne managing director, Dave Brown and DDB Melbourne’s multi-award winning chief creative officer, Darren Spiller will be partnering in the agency’s top job in a move that places creativity at the heart of the business. 

As part of the restructure Simon Bagnasco (below left) has been promoted to the role of ECD of DDB Melbourne, which will provide further depth to the creative department as Spiller expands his remit.

In 2012 RAPP re-launched after its merger with Brown and Steve Crawford’s boutique agency Crawford Brown and Brown moved into the managing director role at the new RAPP Melbourne.

Says Andrew Little, CEO, DDB Group Australia: “In the past two years, Melbourne has grown exponentially and has produced outstanding and multi-award winning creative married to a leading and innovative strategic offering. In response to this trajectory – we are now looking at a broader senior management structure.

“Dave has done an outstanding job growing RAPP Melbourne into an innovative CRM and digital agency and is the perfect candidate to partner Darren and lead DDB Group Melbourne going forward. We believe the Spiller/Brown leadership will be a force to be reckoned with.”

Brown’s breadth of experience across client-side and agencies makes him a well-rounded candidate to leverage the multi-disciplined offerings of the DDB Group as managing director of the DDB Group.

Says Brown (top right): “We have 130 incredibly talented people in Melbourne across DDB, Mango, RAPP, Tribal and Shop. Daz and I are passionate about nurturing and deploying the best talent from each business unit, so our clients get truly innovative and effective business solutions to their unique growth challenges.”

Spiller took the role of ECD at DDB Melbourne in July 2012 after his stint at Fallon in the US. Before Fallon Spiller was the regional creative director of Publicis Mojo Australia and New Zealand before moving to Minneapolis in June 2009.

Says Spiller (top left): “The DDB Melbourne Group is in such a strong position – both creatively and from a business performance viewpoint. I’m looking forward to partnering with Dave and about giving creativity its rightful place at the boardroom table.  I will concentrate on the creative output across all the DDB Group brands as well as applying creative thinking to client’s business challenges.

“In the words of our founder Bill Bernbach, ‘Is creativity some obscure, esoteric artform? Not on your life. It’s the most practical thing a businessman can employ.'”