HANKINSON LURED BACK ACROSS TASMAN TO DDB AUCKLAND

DDB New Zealand Executive Creative Director Toby Talbot has hired Paul Hankinson as Creative Group Head to be responsible for the McDonald’s account.

Sydney-based Hankinson, who will start in June, is no stranger to New Zealand with previous stints at Publicis Mojo and HKM (now Clemenger BBDO Wellington.)

“Hanko will be a great addition to the place,” says Talbot. “He’s bloody funny and he works bloody hard. He was here freelancing for a month and the place didn’t feel the same without him. We all wanted him back. He’s got a huge personality and talent to match. He’s spent the last five years working on big, challenging accounts like Woolworths at M&C Saatchi and Kellogg’s at JWT. Now he wants to do some great work back in New Zealand again.”

Hankinson, who worked with Talbot as a freelance on the recent NZ Lotteries pitch, added: “Toby and I have always got along famously; whether that would translate into working well together was tested in the cauldron of the Lotteries pitch. We’re treating the win as an ‘it works’.

“New Zealand has been extremely kind to me. As well as producing the best work of my career so far here, I’ve even managed to acquire a missus from the place.”

“I’d describe DDB as ‘poised’. It’s already a strong agency, and now Toby’s come in and they’ve won one of the most highly coveted pieces of business in the country. From my point of view, there wasn’t much to think about.”

Hankinson’s last stint of work in the NZ market included multi-award winning campaigns for Hallensteins, Coke and Burger Rings.