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Ogilvy Sydney tempts Derek Green back from overseas to take executive creative director role

Screen Shot 2014-10-27 at 9.41.41 AMOgilvy Group Sydney has named Derek Green as its executive creative director in a move that will see the Sydneysider return to Australia after a 10-year stint overseas.

The appointment follows the departure in July of Steve Back who spent only 18 months at Ogilvy in the role of chief creative officer.

Green is currently senior vice president, executive creative director of Chicago-based Cramer Krasselt after heading to the US firm in May 2012 after a seven-year career with Saatchi and Saatchi in Switzerland. His last position in Australia before heading overseas was senior copywriter at Leo Burnett.

Green will return to Sydney in December to lead Ogilvy’s 57-strong creative team and will oversee creative work across all Ogilvy Sydney’s client roster.

Ogilvy Group Australia chief executive David Fox said Green will bring a strong digital pedigree to the job.

“We’re very excited that Derek is joining the agency to lead our talented creative teams,” he said. “We were able to persuade him that after nearly a decade earning international experience, it was time to come home. We’ve found an international creative director who is hungry to take on the opportunities Ogilvy has to offer and the fact he has a local pedigree and market knowledge is an added bonus.”

Green said: “I’ve been fortunate enough to work across all media, from traditional, to experiential, and in recent years, a lot of digital, and my aim is to truly integrate UX, Media, PR, SEO, SEM, engagement planning, to create big platform ideas right from the initial client briefing.

“I’ve spent the last nine years overseeing several agency creative departments and guiding respective agency creative offerings for clients as diverse as Porsche, Corona Extra, Heinz, and Cedar Fair Amusement Parks.

“This is a huge opportunity to now bring everything I’ve learned in several decades of advertising to a great agency, with an iconic client list, and a lead a team of very clever and motivated individuals.”

Ogilvy is set to lose one of its biggest clients Vodafone soon, as it is not involved in the current creative review, and is also scrapping it out to retain BMW.

Steve Jones

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