Special Auckland promotes Aussie expats Lisa Fedyszyn and Jonathan McMahon to CCO roles

Special has today announced the promotion of Aussie expat creative duo Lisa Fedyszyn and Jonathan McMahon to CCOs of the world-renowned Auckland creative agency, with founder Tony Bradbourne moving up to the position of creative chairman, CEO.

Fedyszyn (above left) and McMahon (above right) joined Special in June 2020 as executive creative directors, following a two and a half year stint at Ogilvy NZ. Prior to Ogilvy NZ, the pair spent two years at Droga5 New York as associate CDs.

Says Bradbourne (pictured below): “Lisa and Jonno have had an incredible impact at Special over the last three years, created world-class work and results that truly live up to our promise and name. From ‘Meddle in the New Zealand Election’ for Every Kiwi Vote Counts, and ‘David’s Unusables’ for MND NZ through to ‘Summer Never Sleeps’ for Kathmandu and ‘Last Performance’ for Partners Life and the ‘Grand Effie’ for Kiwibank’s ‘This is kiwi’ as well as taking out ‘Australia’s favourite commercial’ at the Mumbrella Awards for our work on Optus – these are just some of the many achievements that Lisa and Jonno have been pivotal in.

“Creating the most effective, popular and progressive creative work in our industry is a pretty impressive achievement. But it’s just what Lisa and Jonno do, all with their usual humbleness and humour, and their constant drive to be better.

“Special has grown considerably over the past few years, in New Zealand and internationally, and the promotion to CCOs will allow them to take on more responsibilities in step with that growth.”

Fedyszyn was named Campaign Asia’s ‘Creative Person Of The Year’ in 2021, and McMahon taking out the title in 2022. The promotion marks a new chapter in the duo’s two-decade-long creative partnership having created highly effective campaigns in the Australian, New Zealand, and North American markets, including Droga5 New York, DDB Aotearoa, Colenso BBDO, and of course Special.

Says Fedyszyn: “After 21 years of working together, we are now legal to drink in the US and old enough to become CCOs. We’re extremely thankful to Tony and continue to learn from him. We are excited to continue to work closely with all our brilliant clients to produce the best work in 2024 and beyond.”

Says McMahon: “We love it here at Special. Tony has set up something really (looks up a thesaurus in order not to say “special”) exceptional, and we’re honoured to work with such a brilliant team and all our clients, day in, day out. We’re looking forward to continuing to take the agency and our clients from strength to strength.”

Over the past year Special was named ‘Global Creative Agency of the Year’ by Campaign UK, the first time an agency from the Southern Hemisphere has been named ‘The World’s Best’. ‘New Zealand Agency of the Year’ by Campaign Brief, Campaign Asia and B&T and won ‘Best in Show’ at all the New Zealand award shows, Axis, Effies, Beacons as well as Grand Prix at Cannes, Spikes and WARC.