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DDB restructures into one national office, Melbourne boss Andrew Little moves to Sydney

Ad agency DDB has restructured, consolidating its Sydney and Melbourne operations into a single national brand.

The changes mean DDB Sydney boss Chris Brown takes on the role of national CEO and Melbourne boss Andrew Little becomes national MD, and relocates to Sydney.

The role of group chairman for DDB Australia and New Zealand Marty O’Halloran remains unchanged.

DDB Melbourne has been much the weaker office in recent times, the loss of ANZ marking a quiet period for the agency, while DDB Sydney has proved to be one of Australia’s strongest creative forces with work for Tourism Australia, Telstra and Volkswagen.

DDB Sydney performed far better than its Melbourne counterpart in the Mumbrella Creative Agency Review.

O’Halloran said in a statement: “Recently we’ve witnessed what could be achieved when you combine the talent, resource and intellect of our Sydney and Melbourne operations, not only with the recent win of Westpac but also how we manage the Telstra account nationally. We are firmly committed to investing in both offices and continuing to have a strong physical presence in each region, however, the ability to integrate the offering more effectively and seamlessly on a national basis for our clients is both powerful and timely.”

He told Mumbrella that the restructure did not mark the further weakening of the Melbourne office, with the move of Little to Sydney.

“We will still be maintaining strong local management in each office, with creative and planning talent in each,” he said. “Yes, creatively, the Sydney office has been outperforming Melbourne, which is why we hired Darren Spiller as ECD.

O’Halloran said each office would have specialised skill centres, for example data and analytics in Melbourne and social media in Sydney.

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