Special Melbourne lures Ryan Fitzgerald from Clemenger BBDO for executive CD role

Independent creative company, Special Australia, is today announcing the expansion of its creative leadership with the appointment of world class creative, and former Clemenger BBDO joint-ECD Ryan Fitzgerald as executive creative director in Melbourne.

Fitzgerald’s appointment is the beginning of a new phase of the agency’s Melbourne expansion. Since opening, Special Australia has experienced impressive growth due to a host of new business wins including ANZ bank, Bonds and Netflix. As it has grown in client base it has also expanded its Melbourne creative offering, hiring a host of top tier creatives and strategists whilst also bringing in new digital and innovation resources.

Fitzgerald in his appointment as ECD, will join a growing Melbourne leadership team with the ability to further deepen local client relationships. As ECD Fitzgerald will not just have remit to make Special reach its full potential in the southern city – but also add his creative firepower to Special’s already formidable national offering.

Fitzgerald has an impressive track record, most recently from Clemenger BBDO Melbourne where, as joint ECD, he has had a vast creative and cultural impact on the agency. Prior to Clemenger BBDO, Fitzgerald returned from five years at Droga5 New York, where he was responsible for a raft of multi award winning work. Some of his most notable campaigns include selling Australia to the world under the guise of a Crocodile Dundee reboot for Tourism Australia, creating a documentary with Gotham Chopra and Steph Curry for Under Armour, helping establish Earth’s Black Box in aid of climate change.

Fitzgerald has been awarded by every major award show around the world, including a Titanium at Cannes, and was the recipient of the first-ever Logie for Most Popular Television Commercial.

Says Julian Schreiber, partner and CCO, Special: “There’s no doubt this is a significant moment in the history of Special Australia. Ryan’s exactly what we hope for in a creative leader. A rare talent who’s innately driven to make great work, believes an agency is the ultimate creative project to work on and is also just a really good human who cares about the people he works with.”

Says Fitzgerald: “World class humans doing world class work—It’s pretty simple really. Add in the opportunity to sculpt the next phase of this impressive collective with someone of Bec’s smarts and creative nous and it makes for an opportunity that I could not be more excited about.”

Says Tom Martin, partner and CCO, Special: “We’ve known Ryan for a long time and it’s always been our hope that we would have the chance to work with him again. When this moment arose and we sat down together and really talked about what we believe makes not just great work but a great agency we knew we had to make this happen.”

Says Rebecca Stambanis, partner and CSO, Special: “Ryan is the partner in crime I’ve been waiting for. He’s not only going to be the standard that everyone strives for creatively, but he has a keen business acumen and strategic mind that will be invaluable in helping shape where we go next. I can’t wait to get started with him on setting the course of how our Melbourne office can keep expanding and flourishing.”