Tracing the Legacy of LIA and Campaign Brief’s Creative LIAisons Talent from 2012 to 2024

The London International Awards’ Creative LIAisons program in Las Vegas has made a profound impact on the global creative industry by nurturing and accelerating the careers of emerging talent. Launched in 2012 as a way for LIA to give back to the industry, the initiative stands out for its comprehensive approach to professional development — offering young creatives unparalleled access to top-tier mentorship, hands-on learning, and invaluable networking opportunities.

Each year, Campaign Brief selects one or two young creatives from the CB Australian and New Zealand Agencies of the Year to attend the all-expenses-paid, once-in-a-lifetime Creative LIAisons onsite program, alongside 130+ rising stars from around the world.

In this piece, CB takes a look back at the young creatives who attended as a result of their agency’s Campaign Brief AOTY win — and where they are now.

2012 – Dan Jones and Rory McKechnie

In 2012, illustrator, designer and art director Dan Jones was a young art director at Clemenger BBDO Melbourne, Campaign Brief’s Australian Agency of the Year for the fourth consecutive year. Jones was selected by the agency to attend the inaugural onsite programme in Las Vegas, which was then known as Creative Conversations. It was later renamed Creative LIAisons — a name coined by Campaign Brief — to better reflect the spirit of collaboration and mentorship that defines the initiative.

After four years at Clemenger BBDO, Jones had a short stint at M&C Saatchi before joining Special as graphic design lead. In 2018, he left to launch his own studio, Colossal Creatures, specialising in illustration-based design for clients and creative agencies. In late 2022, Jones boomeranged back to Special Melbourne to take up the role of design director.

In New Zealand, Rory McKechnie was a young copywriter at DDB Group Aotearoa, CB’s reigning NZ Agency of the Year at the time. Nearly 13 years later, McKechnie is now executive creative director at the very same agency that sent him to Las Vegas all those years ago. McKechnie was a senior creative at DDB for more than five and a half years before moving to New York in late 2015 to join Droga5. After over a year with the agency, he returned to DDB Aotearoa as creative director, and in July 2023, was promoted to ECD.

In a post written for CB at the time, McKechnie said: “Having listened to everyone else it sounds like we’re on a pretty good wicket here. We’re doing pretty good stuff, most of our agencies are moving away from just doing traditional work and most of our clients aren’t dicks. It’s been a hell of a trip and we’ve heard from some awesome people. Cheers London Internationals.”

2013 – Sophie Beard and Graeme Clarke

In 2013, Australia was represented by Sophie Beard from Clemenger BBDO Melbourne, which had held the title of CB Agency of the Year for five consecutive years.

Beard is currently a senior creative at AMV BBDO London. After four years at Clemenger, Beard built an impressive local portfolio with senior creative roles at DDB, BWM and TBWA. In 2018, she joined CHEP and rose to associate creative director. In April 2022, Beard joined Howatson+Company as creative director, before making the move to London to join AMV BBDO in early 2023.

Reflecting on the experience of sitting in on jury deliberations at LIA, Beard wrote in a Campaign Brief post at the time: “When I was first told we were going to watch the judging, I imagined slightly crazed discussions, overturned chairs, maybe even a walkout. But instead it was all very democratic. There were no Jerry Springer inspired moves to report. Perhaps that was day two of judging? On the days I attended everyone was comfortable sharing their thoughts and putting forward their arguments.

“For some of the creatives who had work entered, the sense of eaves-dropping was taken to a whole new level. Listening to your own work being judged must of been nerve-racking and surreal at the same time. All in all, being privy to such discussions was a pretty special experience. I guess nothing can beat hearing it all in real time.”

New Zealand’s representative that year was Graeme Clarke from Colenso BBDO, CB Agency of the Year. After leaving Colenso in 2014, Clarke continued his career as a senior copywriter at DDB New Zealand, where he remains today.

In this piece for CB, Clarke wrote: “The week was filled with amazing and inspirational people, as you would expect. From R/GA’s Nick Law, who has basically invented a new advertising platform, to Amir Kassaei, whose incredible life story will probably be made into a feature film starring Ryan Gosling. LIA provided speakers with a breadth of knowledge from every facet of our industry.”

2014 – Patrick Trethowan and Freddie Coltart

McCann Melbourne was the reigning CB Agency of the Year, and junior copywriter Patrick Trethowan was selected to represent Australia at LIA 2014. Trethowan is now creative director (copy) at 10 Feet Tall. After spending more than three years at McCann, he went on to hold senior copywriting roles at a number of Melbourne agencies, including Hedgehog and Ogilvy, along with various freelance stints.

At the time, Trethowan said this about witnessing the judging process in a post for CB: “We found out what goes on behind those closed doors and how important it was for each jury to define exactly what their category was so they knew exactly what they were looking for. It was amazing to see how much incredible work was rejected because it had been entered into the wrong category. It was also made abundantly clear to me what separates a good idea from a great idea.”

New Zealand was represented by Freddie Coltart, who was then at NZ CB Agency of the Year FCB Aotearoa. Coltart is now a creative director at DDB Aotearoa, where he works alongside his creative partner Matt Williams. The duo have been creative collaborators—since 2009. After more than four years at FCB, Coltart joined Colenso BBDO as a senior creative before returning to FCB, where he rose to creative group head. He and Williams joined DDB Aotearoa in March 2019, where they continue to shape award-winning work today.

2015 – Shannon Crowe, Jackson Harper and Ed Gunn

In 2015, the CB Agency of the Year was Clemenger BBDO Melbourne. The agency selected young creative team, copywriter Shannon Crowe and art director Jackson Harper to represented Australia in Vegas.

Crowe is now group creative director at YouTube for the APAC region, as well as a lecturer and advertising tutor at RMIT University. After a year and a half at Clemenger BBDO, she held senior creative roles at M&C Saatchi and Thinkerbell before joining YouTube in early 2024. In 2017, Crowe was one of 15 women selected from around the globe to participate in Cannes Lions’ ‘See It Be It’ programme, an initiative that creates space for women and non-binary people in the creative industry, accelerating their careers to work towards gender equality. Earlier this year, Crowe was announced as a Melbourne jury member for this year’s Gerety Awards.

Harper is currently working as a freelance group creative director in New York. After more than three years at Clemenger BBDO, he moved to the U.S. to join Droga5 as a senior art director. He went on to work as VP, creative director at BBDO New York and later as group creative director at Mojo Supermarket. Since mid-2023, Harper has been freelancing with major agencies and brands including Apple, FCB, Droga5, adam&eveDDB, BBDO, Peloton, Media.Monks, and Accenture Song.

Whilst at Clemenger BBDO, Crowe and Harper created the global award-winning “Snickers Hungerithm” campaign, which was recognised as the 5th Most Awarded Campaign Globally by The Big Won Report and Cannes Agency of the year in 2017.

In New Zealand, Ed Gunn, a young planner at CB NZ Agency of the Year Colenso BBDO, was selected to represent. He is now EVP, strategy at Mischief @ No Fixed Address in New York. After two and a half years at Colenso, Gunn relocated to India, working first as strategy director at DDB Mudra and later as head of planning at BBDO India. He returned to New Zealand in 2020 as strategy director at Special, before moving to New York in early 2022 to join Mischief, where he remains today.

At the time, Gunn said in a post for CB: “Being one of only two planners out of over 100 exceptionally talented creatives from around the world, I swiftly put on a clean black t-shirt, tight jeans and Nike sneakers, in order to not arouse any suspicion. But you learn very quickly that, although it is intended for creatives, anyone that is passionate about good ideas and how to make them effective is going to get a lot out of this. And I think coming from planning brought a different perspective to discussions on the topic.”

2016 – Tim Pashen, Zoe Edwards and Kate Lill

In 2016, Tim Pashen, senior copywriter at The Monkeys, Sydney—CB Australian Agency of the Year—was invited to represent Australia.

Pashen is now creative director and partner at Denmark agency Worth Your While, a founding partner agency of by The Network. After three and a half years with The Monkeys, Pashen spent three years at Accenture Song Nordic in Denmark as creative lead before joining Worth Your While in February 2022.

In a post written for CB whilst in Vegas, Pashen wrote: “Besides being fascinating, entertaining, and mind-expanding, what all of these talks reminded me, is that when you’re expecting one thing and you get another, that’s what connects with people. It makes our systems spasm. It’s in all great jokes. And it can be applied to any medium you’re working on. It doesn’t matter if it’s VR or a flyer – it just has to connect with people in an unexpected way.”

Representing New Zealand was Zoe Edwards and Kate Lill, a young creative team from Y&R New Zealand—CB NZ Agency of the Year.

Lill is now creative partner at Pitchblack Partners. After spending over six years with Y&R (now VML), Lill joined Pitchblack Partners in 2019 as creative partner.

Edwards said at the time: “When Kate and I were offered a place at Creative LIAisons, we knew we were in for an enlightening, inspiring trip. What we didn’t realise was this was an advertising awards show that sacrificed its big glitzy awards show night for a week of fostering young talent from around the world.

“And foster they did. After two days of hearing from the top creative minds in the industry and a sit in on the LIA jury statue discussions, we took part in the InnerVation Lab – a lesson in entrepreneurship. Looking at ideas from an entrepreneurial perspective was a fresh take on our role as problem solvers, and presenting our idea to Shark Tank’s Kevin Harrington and Daymond John was a moment we’ll be hard-pressed to forget.

“And we got our fair share of glitz in the end, we were in Las Vegas after all. A huge thanks to Campaign Brief for sending us, destroying our livers and feeding our minds.”

2017 – Alberta Gunner, Roxy Dalton, Georgia Johnstone

In 2017, Clemenger BBDO Melbourne snagged the CB Agency of the Year title once again, and young creative team Alberta Gunner, copywriter and Roxy Dalton, art director, were chosen to represent Australia at the LIA Creative LIAisons program in Las Vegas.

Gunner is currently a freelance senior multi-disciplinary creative, copywriter and audio specialist, who splits her time between London and Melbourne. After four years with Clemenger, Gunner spent three and a half years at SICKDOGWOLFMAN as copywriter, followed by a year and a half at Howatson+Company as a senior creative before finally making the move to freelance work and other creative pursuits in 2024.

Dalton is currently a senior art director and creative lead at Amazon, Brand Innovation Lab in New York. After four and a half years at Clemenger BBDO, Dalton spent two years working as a senior art director at Area 23 in New York before joining Amazon.

The pair wrote here for CB: “Wasting no time, we made a beeline for the likes of Pum Lefebure, Ted Royer and Bob Isherwood. Throughout the night, we were continually surprised by how approachable everyone was. For a second we almost forgot we were talking to advertising legend Bob Isherwood… almost. The only downside? Apparently, Las Vegas bartenders don’t stick to standard drink measurements. The next morning was rough.”

Representing New Zealand  in 2017 was Georgia Johnstone, a junior creative at Colenso BBDO, Campaign Brief’s NZ Agency of the Year for the second consecutive year.

Johnstone is currently a senior writer at Droga5 New York. After four years at Colenso BBDO, she spent two years as a senior copywriter at The&Partnership New York, followed by two years at BBDO New York as associate creative director. Later on Johnstone freelanced at Mother for three months before joining Droga5 in October 2023.

2018 – Scott Zuliani, Jack Delmonte, David Smith

In 2018 Scott Zuliani, art director at The Monkeys, Sydney—Campaign Brief’s 2017 Agency of the Year—and Jack Delmonte, senior creative at Host/Havas, Sydney—#2 on the Campaign Brief 2018 Hot List—represented Australia at the 2018 Creative LIAisons in Las Vegas.

Zuliani is currently freelancing in London. After spending over five and a half years at The Monkeys (now Droga5), Zuliani worked at Howatson+Company for two and a half years as a creative director before relocating to the UK in February 2025.

Delmonte is currently a creative director at VML Sydney. After working at Host/Havas (now Havas Host) from 2014 – 2018, Delmonte spent over five and a half years at Dentsu Creative as group creative director before joining VML in 2022 as creative director.

At the time, Delmonte wrote in a post for CB: “Just as easy as it was to spot the strip in the middle of the desert, it’s just as easy to tell the ad folk apart from the holiday makers. Chinos instead of 3 quarter cargo shorts. Linen shirts instead Hawaiian. Thick black rim glasses instead of Dirty Dog speed dealers. Rothmans instead of watermelon flavoured vape pens and tumblers of Laphroaig in stark contrast of florescent green plastic yard sticks of frozen rum.”

2018 was the year that Special won its first CB NZ Agency of the Year title, and as a result, young creative David Smith, was nominated to represent New Zealand at LIA. Smith is currently a senior creative at Clemenger UNLTD. After over four years with Special, Smith spent a year at VML New Zealand as art director, before joining Clemenger UNLTD in mid-2019 as senior creative.

2019 – Anna Paine, Harry Skelton and Holly Sutton-Williams

In 2019, Anna Paine, an art director at DDB Sydney, CB Australian Agency of the Year, represented Australia.

Paine is currently a creative director at DDB Sydney. After seven years with DDB Sydney, Paine went on to join Dig in 2021 as a senior art director and was promoted to creative director in 2022. In September 2024 she returned to DDB Sydney. alongside her creative partner Owen Bryson.

Chosen to represent NZ in 2019 was Harry Skelton, a junior art director and Holly Sutton-Williams, a junior copywriter, both from Colenso BBDO, Campaign Brief 2018 NZ Agency of the Year.

Skelton is currently a senior creative at Colenso BBDO. After five and a half years at Colenso, Skelton spent two years at Deloitte Digital working as a senior creative consultant before returning to Colenso in January 2025.

Holly Sutton-Williams is now senior copywriter at M&C Saatchi London. After five years at Colenso BBDO, Sutton-Williams relocated to London where she freelanced for a few months before joining M&C Saatchi in early 2023.

2020 – Cancelled due to Covid

As the world shut down, so too did the creative industry’s calendar. For the first time since its inception, the Creative LIAisons program was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Barbara Levy, President of LIA, addressed the global creative community with honesty and empathy at the time: “Our industry is in a world of pain right now, and whilst Covid-19 is the driving issue, the economic impact to our many friends and partners in the industry is going to be severe and we think it inappropriate to pretend the world is in a normal place and it is business as usual. To that end as we have not yet opened the 2020 entry system, there will be no need to issue refunds.”

2021 – Jeffrey Seeff, Joel Grunstein, Till Dittmers, Jack Gravatt

With international travel still restricted, Creative LIAisons returned in 2021 with a new fully virtual format. The program connected young creatives with three different industry leaders for one-on-one coaching sessions, each focused on developing skills, navigating remote work, and planning for the future in a changing creative landscape.

In 2021, Special Group Australia’s Jeffrey Seeff and Joel Grunstein were selected as mentees for the program after their agency was named Campaign Brief’s Australian Agency of the Year. Likewise, Till Dittmers and Jack Gravatt from Special Group New Zealand were chosen following their agency’s New Zealand Agency of the Year win.

Seeff and Grunstein are now a senior freelance creative team at Mother London, having relocated to the UK in 2024 after over six years at Special Australia.

Dittmers and Gravatt also made the move to London, joining Mother for two and a half years before taking on their current roles as a senior creative team at BBH London in early 2025.

2022 – Katie Kidd, Lizzie Wood, Lily Macintosh, Guy Trengrove

With global travel still uncertain, the Creative LIAisons program continued in 2022 with its virtual format, offering another cohort of emerging creatives the chance to connect with top industry mentors through one-on-one coaching sessions.

CB Australian Agency of the Year The Monkeys (now Droga5) chose young creative team Katie Kidd, art director and Lizzie Wood, copywriter represented their agency as mentees. Meanwhile New Zealand Agency of the Year DDB Aotearoa’s Lily Macintosh, art director and Guy Trengrove, intermediate copywriter represented NZ.

Kidd and Wood are now senior creatives at Mother London. After five years at The Monkeys (now Droga5), the duo spent a year at TBWA\Media\Arts\LAB before relocating to London to join Mother in February 2025.

Macintosh recently relocated to Amsterdam and is currently exploring job opportunities. She spent four years at DDB, followed by a year and a half at The Monkeys Aotearoa (now Droga5), before moving to the Netherlands.

At the conclusion of Creative LIAisons, Trengrove won LIA’s random drawing for a placement to Sir John Hegarty’s “The Business of Creativity” online course.

Armed with more than three pages of notes from his virtual coaching with his mentors, Trengrove expressed great excitement and anticipation to learn from Sir John Hegarty’s sessions: “I never thought I’d get the chance to chat with him, let alone learn under him. I can’t thank LIA enough for sending this opportunity my way.”

Trengrove is currently an intermediate copywriter at Colenso BBDO. He spent over a year and a half at Tribal, DDB’s digital experience agency, before joining Colenso in January 2024.

2023 – Lucas Fowler and Kimberley Scott

In 2023, LIA’s Creative LIAisons on-site programme returned to Las Vegas. Thinkerbell won its first CB Australian Agency of the Year title and sent senior creative Lucas Fowler to represent Australia.

Special was named CB NZ Agency of the year and nominated young art director Kimberley Scott to fly the Kiwi flag in Vegas.

Fowler is currently senior creative at Thinkerbell. He has been with the agency for over four years working with his creative partner Jack Burton.

Scott is currently a senior art director at DDB Group Aotearoa. After over three years with Special where she rose to senior art director and joined DDB in July 2024.

2024 – Aïcha Wijland and Josep Jover

In 2024, Aïcha Wijland, an art director at CB Agency of the Year, The Monkeys (now Droga5), was chosen to represent Australia at the programme in Las Vegas. This was Wijland’s second time attending the programme, previously winning a spot alongside Lauren Eddy in 2019 as part of MADC’s Pitch a Ride to Vegas’ competition. Wijland has been with the agency since August 2021 and was promoted to senior art director in December 2024. In November 2024, Wijland was a tutor at Copy School Sydney.

From New Zealand, Josep Jover, senior art director at DDB Group Aotearoa, CB’s NZ Agency of the Year, joined the onsite program. In 2025, LIA introduced a new challenge to the LIAison mentees, with the launch of the ‘Create and Make’ workshop and challenge, led by Tara McKenty, where mentees had less than one day to ideate, craft, and pitch compelling content to an esteemed jury. Jover was part of the winning team, Team Doom Dolls. Jover has been with DDB since 2016, initially as art director, before being promoted to senior art director in early 2024.

In a series for CB, Jover wrote: “This program is fantastic, and I hope it never ends! As Tara McKenty (Chief Innovation Officer and Executive Creative Director at BMF Sydney) noted in her opening speech, the LIA program is like an MBA, providing the chance to connect with over 100 talented young creatives—an invaluable networking opportunity for the future of our careers.”