Julian Watt to depart Y&R Group
Y&R Group’s executive creative director Julian Watt is to step down at the end of the year in a move which will trigger a restructure of the creative offering of the wider group.
Watt, who has been in the role for nearly four years, told Mumbrella that he intended to take a break before making his next move, which he anticipated would still be within Australia although not necessarily the same type of role.
Watt said that when he joined the agency, he had set goals around winning creative awards, regaining client trust and a return to financial stability which had now been achieved.
He told Mumbrella: “It’s a wonderful agency and it’s a beautiful brand. It seemed to have hit that cycle where it have everything go wrong. They were kind enough to offer me the chance as creative director to get the agency back on track creatively, and I feel I’ve achieved that.
“I’d like to punctuate now and see the wood for the trees. I’m proud to join the ranks of creatives who have led Patts, and wish the team well in the future.”
Prior to the role, Watt spent two years as ECD at 303Lowe, his first job in Australia after moving from his native South Africa.
Group managing director Andrew Dowling said that the new structure would see creative directors leading the separate agencies – GPY&R, VML and IdeaWorks – within the group report in to chief creative officer Ben Coulson.
Dowling said: “Y&R Sydney has seen significant growth in 2013, including recent NSW Government and Dick Smith wins. To build on our momentum, we have decided to re-structure the creative team and will be appointing Creative Leadership in each of the specialist agencies, starting with the appointment of Tom Hoskins as Creative Director of IdeaWorks. Each of the agency Creative Directors will be reporting directly to ANZ Chief Creative Officer Ben Coulson.”