R/GA New York snares Aussie creatives John McKelvey and Hannes Ciatti from Whybin\TBWA

R/GA New York has lured Aussie creatives John McKelvey and Hannes Ciatti from Whybin\TBWA, Sydney as creative directors. They report to Aussie expat Nick Law, EVP, global chief creative officer, and will work across the Nike and Google accounts and global projects for R/GA’s expanding client roster.

At Whybin\TBWA McKelvey (above left) and Ciatti (above right) made a key contribution to the resurgence of the Australian agency. Between them, they worked on M.J. Bale, Pedigree, NRMA, Absolut and RaboDirect and won the agency over 70 creative and effectiveness awards including eight Cannes Lions in 2012.

Prior to joining TBWA in April 2011, McKelvey was the digital creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi Australia. Here he co-created the highly awarded and effective ‘The Beer Economy’ campaign for Tooheys New beer. He’s been awarded at all the major international shows including multiple Gold Lions at Cannes. He was also the co-founder of creative collective Southpaw, which worked directly with brands including Virgin Atlantic and partnered with agencies Droga5, The Glue Society, Host and Saatchi’s to create award-winning work for Toyota, Lion Nathan, Young Guns and Cadbury.

Ciatti has worked for a host of top European and Australian agencies including DDB, The Monkeys and M&C Saatchi delivering integrated campaigns for global brands VW, Sony PlayStation, Apple and Absolut. His recent work for the Pedigree Adoption Drive is one of Mars Pedigree’s most awarded campaigns worldwide winning at Cannes, D&AD, One Show, Caples, Spikes, Adfest, New York Festival, AWARD and Digital Campaign of the Year. It’s one of Facebook’s Top 50 Apps worldwide in 2011.