McCann Sydney names Darren Spiller as new CCO; Hazelle Klønhammer joins as managing director; ECD Jerker Fagerström to return home to Sweden
CB Exclusive: McCann Sydney has appointed Darren Spiller (right) as chief creative officer and Hazelle Klønhammer (left) as managing director, further strengthening the agency’s leadership line-up.
McCann Sydney has also announced the departure of executive creative director, Jerker Fagerström (pictured below), who has made the decision to return home to Sweden. Fagerström has been with McCann Sydney for just under three years, joining the agency in May 2016 in the role of ECD.
Spiller, former Host, DDB Melbourne, and Fallon USA, is a multi-award winning creative leader with awards covering everything from Cannes Lions to D&AD pencils. He also featured in Adweek’s Top 100 Creatives for 2018. Spiller comes to the agency after spending 18 months as Host/Havas Australia’s first chief creative officer.
Spiller joined Host/Havas at the beginning of 2017, two months after departing his role as DDB Melbourne CCO.
He joined DDB Melbourne in 2012 as ECD, replacing Grant Rutherford, and was promoted to CCO in February 2015, a move which saw a major creative restructure for the agency. During his time at DDB Melbourne, the agency enjoyed a creative resurgence, developing high-profile work for Westpac, Devondale and RSL amongst others.
Prior to joining DDB Melbourne, Spiller held the role of CCO at Fallon USA, moving to Minneapolis in June 2009. Before Fallon, he was regional creative director of Publicis Mojo Australia and New Zealand.
Says Spiller: “There’s nothing more exciting than people like Nic, Fran and Hazelle asking you to come on board and help build and re-invent something. I knew I was going to be in good company with innovative impatient thinkers. All here, all like-minded to make relevant effective work.”
With over a decade at Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam, former founding partner and CEO of Anomaly Amsterdam and most recently co-founder of Australian ideas agency Ugly, Klønhammer has grown and re-positioned some of the world’s most notable global brands, including Nike, Converse, Diageo, Microsoft, Heineken, Carlsberg, Electronic Arts, Google and Vodafone.
Says Klønhammer: “McCann Sydney is at an interesting crossroads, evolving their agency model to be more progressive and with a huge focus on creativity – not just from the creative ‘department’ but across every aspect of the business. I am delighted to be on this journey with them.”
Says Nicole Taylor, CEO, McCann Australia: “Daz and Hazelle are world class practitioners who feel like family. We are aligned on our goals and values and have great respect and appreciation for each other. It’s a privilege to have them join us.”
On Fagerström’s departure Taylor says: “While we are incredibly sad to see Jerker go, we respect his decision to do what is right for his family. We hope to keep Jerker within the IPG network, and are currently looking for suitable roles overseas.”
25 Comments
Congrats Nic and Dazza – all the best guys.
All the best Jerker. You’ve done incredibly well.
That’s a ton of talent leading McCann. Exciting times ahead.
Welcome back Daz! Stellar news.
Good luck Jerker it’s been fun. You managed to raise the standards at McCann bringing home their first Cannes Lions.
See ya mate! All the best.
Farewell Jerker you legend. Best of luck back home.
What about the Baron? Is he gone?
Well done Jerker on an amazing run at McCann. Sydney’s first Lion, amongst countless other accolades to be very proud of. Many more to come I expect, for both you and McCann Sydney. Hazelle and Darren congratulations to you both – I’m sure you’ll smash it.
Good luck, Daz – nice to see you back! (Good luck, Hazelle too!)
Nice work Nic, Fran, Darren and the rest of the team at McCann. X
You’ll be missed mate!
Congrats Daz, good to see you back. Awesome news!
McCann Sydney has been in a creative rebuild since Noah rolled out the Ark. I was recruited in 1985 and was fought tooth & nail. Nevertheless I managed to produce some iconic work for which I was piled high with internal awards. I was fired later that day
Nice one Daz. Great moves all of you – and the best of luck to go with it.
Nice move guys – dream team!
Jerker is a legend. Know he always wanted to go back to Sydney. We had our arguments but one of the few creative directors you could scream at about the work and he would never take it personally. A true soldier and one I always loved working with in the trenches.
Good man. Great leader.
Welcome back Daz.
McCann Australia now has two CCO but no ECD’s?
I see something of myself in the McCann leadership team.
Really picking up pace now
Congrats Daz
Jerker is fantastic. His most amazing quality – Jerker had no issue standing up to (accounts and strategy) management and calling them on their bullshit, and trusting the creatives to deliver – whatever the creatives wanted to get made, he would try to make that happen. An amazing ECD / ‘creative suit’ that resulted in quite a few award winning campaigns coming out of there in a reasonably short time.
Unfortunately for Jerker and Australian advertising, nobody in account management or strategy wants to be called on their bullshit – and nine times out of ten, it is fucking terrible bullshit. With them more and more influencing and controlling the creative department, I can’t see Sydney improving.
Daz is great. And a great guy. But Jerker is a serious loss for the industry in general, a true champion of creative (even if he was from a strategic background) and someone with the guts to call people on their (most of the time absolute) crap.
Well done Jerker, hope it all goes well in Sweden.
My time there was a realisation Sydney was a service agency and Melbourne was a creative agency. Sydney pretended now and then to believe their own crap and hire great creatives but after a year they move on.