Jacqueline Witts joins Clemenger BBDO Melbourne as head of planning; Dave Keating joins in the role of chief operating officer

Clemenger BBDO Melbourne has today announced two additions to its executive leadership team, with Jacqueline Witts joining as head of planning, alongside Dave Keating who has joined as chief operating officer.

Witts (left) has previously held senior planning roles at AJF, TBWA, JWT and Leo Burnett in Melbourne an has led the strategic output for brands across a broad range of categories including banking and financial services, retail, automotive and health insurance.

Keating (right) has joined from TBWA\ Australia where he ran operations and production across its Melbourne and Adelaide offices, leading the planning, growth and evolution of the production capability within the agency.

The appointments follow the return of Jim Curtis and Ryan Fitzgerald from Droga5 New York to join the agency as executive creative directors. The pair joined Clemenger BBDO Melbourne’s creative leadership team in April.

In her new role, Witts has been tasked with bolstering the agency’s planning department and brand strategy capability by adding a disciplined approach to human-centred design thinking and combining data-driven planning practices with customer behavior.

As chief operating officer, Keating joins with the remit of reimagining the agency’s production department with a core focus on carefully orchestrating the agency’s content creation, delivery and optimisation capabilities to drive dynamic creativity and campaigns for clients.

Says Jim Gall (centre), CEO, Clemenger BBDO Melbourne Group: “The brilliant skillsets and capabilities that Jacqueline and Dave bring to the agency have already proven critical to our agency that we’re realising significant benefit in.

“We firmly believe that creativity is always the answer, and understanding humanity is more important to the pursuit of creativity than ever before. How people think, act and what they value in a post COVID world will no doubt play a huge role in shaping the opportunities for brands across the country.

“We’re thrilled to have them both join our highly capable and experienced executive leadership team as we create new opportunities for our agency and for our clients.”

Witts and Keating join the existing executive leadership team of Jim Gall, James McGrath, Simon Lamplough, Paul Rees-Jones and Adrian Ciabotti.