Clemenger BBDO Wellington promotes Mark Dalton to ECD; Alex Metson, Frances Cooke, JP Twaalfhoven, Mike Gwyther + Steve Hansen to project CDs

Clemenger BBDO Wellington promotes senior creatives: Mark Dalton to executive creative director; Alex Metson, Frances Cooke, JP Twaalfhoven, Mike Gwyther and Steve Hansen have been promoted to project creative directors.

Says Brigid Alkema, CCO, Clemenger BBDO Wellington: “We have a diverse bunch of people in Wellington, with a vast amount of experience. It seems crazy to only expose that talent to just one client or challenge. These people are some of the best talent in Aotearoa. They’ve been consistently impressive with their achievements, year after year. They’re well-rounded, wholehearted individuals.

“And we’re using this small-but-mighty team to our advantage. Assigning creative directors across projects, not siloed on a particular client, allows for diversity of thinking, cross-pollination, leadership and relationships across all of our clients’ businesses. To us this isn’t radical, but logical – to our clients and their needs. Every one of these people understands every one of our clients; the things that are keeping them awake at night, their dreams and desires. It also keeps us humming efficiently and effectively for them too.

“Executive creative director, Mark Dalton, continues to have an incredible career, from being appointed co-president of the Designers Institute, to helping champion Clemenger’s te ao Māori journey, to leading the Unite Against COVID-19 work. This body of work is complex. Mark has been able to collaborate authentically with multiple partners, under the forever shifting goalposts of COVID, to deliver a design system that continues to help NZ navigate our way through the pandemic. The poise, empathy and beauty he has fed into the work every day since March 12th 2020, has left me – and many others – in awe of him. He puts the ‘exec’ into creative leadership.”

Alkema explains a project creative director’s responsibilities mimic those of a traditional creative director when leading a project. When these ‘PCDs’ are not leading a project, they act as a senior creative, working along with other members of the creative team.

“Steve Hansen has a cultural compass living inside his body. Whatever direction he points us in, it’s of the moment. He has a true sense of what is on and, equally importantly, what is off. He has an ability to lead projects right through to delivery and make and defend a thousand decisions to land ideas effortlessly into our audience’s worlds.

“Alex Metson brings with him the wisdom you get after working in multiple agencies. He can hover above a round table and hold a perspective on how to approach things differently. His constant questioning – of both our team and clients – is invaluable in helping us walk away from the familiar, and head into the unknown.

“Frances Cooke loves and understands human beings deeply. Through respect of their values and beliefs, she comes up with deliciously nuanced and powerful solutions. Once she hones into an audience, she brings them into all of her decision making, and makes sure we – our clients included – never forget who we’re here for.

“Mike Gwyther’s passion and quest for knowledge on subject matter, makes the whole team dive deeper. He brings in global trends and patterns, and shares future thinking and innovation to break us out of our Kiwi bubble – always making sure our ideas are moving our audience forward.

“JP Twaalfhoven is positively charged. He creates energy, and has the ability to gift it to others, so they’ll go the extra mile. He holds the creative standard high, and teaches those around him they can creatively problem solve their way through anything without lowering that standard. This results in work that packs a powerful punch.

“We’re proud of these promotions and we’re excited about the year ahead. It’s a win for our people, our agency and our clients. Here’s to growth, and all the good energy that it brings.”