Iris Sydney snares Droga5 Sydney creative director Mike Spirkovski for ECD role

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spirko.jpgCB Exclusive – Creative innovation agency iris Sydney has appointed Mike Spirkovski, a current creative director at Droga5 Sydney, as its new executive creative director. Spirkovski will take up the newly created ECD role in August.

Expanding on the role of former CD Tom Hoskins, who left the agency earlier this month after four years, Spirkoski will report in to regional CEO for iris Asia Pacific, Luke Nathans, who confirms the appointment is part of an ongoing move to bolster its management team as it prepares for more growth and creative success in the Australian market. The agency’s current clients include Shell, Adidas, The City of Sydney and Diageo.

Says Nathans: “The Australian team have had a fantastic run of success over the last 12 months. We’ve won plenty of big pitches, and produced some fantastic work for our existing clients. But we’re ambitious, the challengers, who aspire to be extraordinary. Mike shares our vision and we’re stoked to have him on board.”

Says Spirkovski: “These opportunities are rare in our industry, to come in and lead an agency on the rise like iris, and continue to build on and develop great work for our clients. They have an incredible roster of clients both locally and internationally and most play in the really exciting space of participation, be it through innovation, digital technology, experiences or branded content. I’m thrilled to be joining iris and can’t wait to get started.”

During his time, Spirkovski has collected more than 100 awards including a rare Titanium, and back-to-back Gold, Silver and Bronze Lions at Cannes. He is the co-creator of the Earth Hour initiative, which was cited in the Gunn report as ‘the best 360 campaign ever’. Prior to joining Droga5 in 2011 where he helped grow the agency to win accounts such as Woolworths and Qantas, he led Clemenger BBDO Sydney as joint ECD from 2009 to 2011, where he added AUS$120 million in new business by bringing on board new clients Virgin, Hungry Jacks and Foxtel.

Iris has over 400 staff in the APAC region, with new offices recently opening in Indonesia and Dubai.