CB Exclusive: Ben Coulson departs ANZ Chief Creative Officer role at Dentsu Creative

CB can reveal that Ben Coulson has departed Dentsu Creative after 18 months as ANZ Chief Creative Officer, for a new role yet to be announced. Until a replacement for Coulson is found, Dentsu Creative NZ co-CCO Brett Colliver will lead creative across Australia and NZ.

One of Australia’s most respected creative leaders, Coulson, who joined Dentsu Creative in September 2023, was formerly chief creative officer Clemenger BBDO, VMLY&R and George Patterson, where each agency rose to become Agency of the Year on multiple occasions. Coulson also lead the team at HERO, who has been Campaign Brief’s mid size agency of the year for the past two years. He has worked across Europe, the US and APAC, served on global creative boards, and chaired juries at each of the international award shows.

His work has seen him repeatedly ranked in the top ten CCO’s in the world by the Advertising Age, The Gunn Report, the WON report, Cannes Lions and D&AD. Coulson was the commerce jury president at D&AD this year and will judge film at Cannes Lions next month. Read Ben’s recent D&AD Diaries, ‘Part One – Case Study Waterboarding‘ and ‘Part Two – The Spanish Inquisition‘, written exclusively for CB.

When contacted Coulson told CB: “The DC crew are great people, and good work is bubbling up across all offices and disciplines. I have learned a lot about what a properly integrated agency can do. Thanks to the whole team for their hard work and support, it really has been a happy home.”

Says Kirsty Muddle, Chief Executive Officer, Dentsu Creative, Australia & New Zealand: “Ben has moved on from our team, and we thank him for his contribution and his passion around the craft. We wish him well for what’s next and he remains a good friend of this business.

“We are lucky we have two revered creative leaders in our region, [and] Titaniums, Pencils and Lion winning capability in Brett Colliver and Mike Felix. They’ve done some notable work whilst they’ve been here at dentsu over that last 24 months and Brett will step into the Creative Leadership role for Australia as an interim step.”

Until a replacement for Coulson is found, Dentsu Creative NZ co-CCO Brett Colliver (above) will lead creative across Australia and NZ.