DILALLO AND BENJAMIN TO JOINT DEPUTY CD GIG AT JWT SYDNEY

December 19 2006, 3:55 pm | BY campaignbrief | 24 Comments

After four years with Saatchi & Saatchi, first in Sydney, then in Auckland, one of Australasia’s hottest teams, Andy DiLallo (top) and Jay Benjamin (bottom), are leaving the network to take the role of Deputy CDs of JWT Sydney under Andy Mckeon.

While at Saatchi & Saatchi, the team – currently ranked third in the CB Creative Rankings – played a role in garnering four Campaign Brief Agency of the Year titles in three years. Three of the titles were with the Sydney office and one was with the Auckland office.

Before Saatchi’s the pair worked together at Bozell New York, the third most awarded agency in the world at Cannes in 2002. It was also there where they first worked with creative mentor David Nobay, who was responsible for bringing the duo to the region.

Most recently the team has been at Saatchi & Saatchi Auckland where they have worked on high profile work for such clients as Toyota, Tiger Beer, Eta, Fonterra, Young Guns, and WWF.

Says DiLallo: “It has been an amazing run with Saatchi, but the time has come for us to look towards new challenges. The opportunity to be a part of building a new legacy at JWT is an exciting one and we can’t wait to hit the ground running. With the support of Andy Mckeon, Amy Smith (CEO) and (worldwide CD) Craig Davis we feel that we can help take the network to new heights in the region.”

When asked about leaving Saatchi, Benjamin says it was a very hard choice: “We have and will always have a special place in our hearts for Saatchi & Saatchi. Their dedication to excellence is something we hope to carry with us. It has been a privilege to have worked with so many talented people. But after meeting Andy Mckeon and his team at JWT we look forward to working with many new talented people.”

McKeon says the two are just who has been looking for “super talented, hungry and crap at karaoke.”

They join new recent world-class hires including Julie Rath, who worked at Goodby Silverstein & Partners with Andy, Paul Bruce from The Glue Society who has been freelancing there for a few months, Jeffrey Oley, a designer from New York and the Miami Adschool teams (associated with Crispin Porter + Bogusky) JWT is hosting to work with their AWARD School juniors.