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Cowan Design appoints ex-Campaign Palace boss Tom Cooper as Australasian MD

The former boss of The Campaign Palace’s Melbourne office has taken the top job at branding and packaging design studio Cowan.

Tom Cooper, who was MD of The Palace for three years between 2007 and 2010, and before that GM at GPY&R Melbourne, becomes MD, Australia and New Zealand for Cowan Design, based in Melbourne.

His arrival comes after a period of upheaval for Cowan, which was hit by the exit of three senior executives last year – Chris Tremewen, who headed up the Sydney and Melbourne operation as group MD, executive creative director Matt Walker and financial controller Mark Albones.

Combined, they had spent 37 years at Cowan Design, before leaving to launch their own company, The Key Branding. The Melbourne-based studio has seen out a non-compete period, and has since picked up work for Carlton United Brewers, Heinz, Simplot and Coles.

Another recent departee from Cowan’s Melbourne office is general manager Sue McKenzie.

Her exit comes not long after Cowan’s Sydney office said goodbye to COO Noel Magnus, the former CEO of JWT Australia, who left after three months in August. Magnus said he had “restructured himself out of a job”.

Cooper told Mumbrella: “I’m not interested in the whys and the wherefores of what happened before I arrived. I’m here to achieve growth for the business, and make a difference to the brands that we work with.”

On moving from the advertising to design world, Cooper said: “There is more that unites the two disciplines. The process of understanding brands is similar, it’s just the output that is different.”

Cowan, an FMCG specialist, is headquartered in Melbourne, where it has 30 staff. The company also has offices in Sydney, London, Auckland, Ho Chi Minh City, Shanghai and Beijing.

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