DDB Melbourne buys indie agency Lifelounge with MD Lorenzo Bresciani to depart
DDB Melbourne has acquired independent creative agency Lifelounge bringing more changes to the structure of the agency, Mumbrella can reveal.
The move, which is still being finalised, will see Lifelounge co-founder and CEO Dion Appel move into the managing director role of DDB Melbourne with current MD Lorenzo Bresciani set to launch his own specialist brand consultancy.
Last week a restructure within DDB Melbourne saw RAPP managing director Dave Brown moving across to the creative agency to join Darren Spiller as joint-partners in leading the agency.
DDB confirmed the acquisition, with Brown saying: “DDB is in the final stages of contract negotiations for the acquisition of Lifelounge Agency. Full details of Dion’s appointment will be announced in the coming weeks. This is significant news for DDB Group Melbourne and know the partnership with Dion will take the brand to a whole new level.
“For some time Lorenzo Bresciani has held the ambition of starting his own specialist brand consultancy and as such, has decided to step down from his role as DDB Melbourne managing director to take on this new challenge.
“We are in full support of Lorenzo’s new venture and a portion of Lorenzo’s time has been retained to DDB Group Australia as he will continue to work on specialist strategic projects.”
Mumbrella understands the Lifelounge brand will be retained and will operate as a sub-brand of DDB Melbourne. It is not clear how the acquisition affects the agency’s staff.
No further details on Bresciani’s new venture were available.
Lifelounge clients include the TAC, Southern Comfort, VicRoads and VicHealth, ARIA Charts, Village Cinemas and the Today Network. DDB Melbourne clients include Sensis, Telstra, Westpac, BT Financial Group, Devondale, Hertz and Jeanswest.
Last week mumbrella revealed the departures of Tribal Worldwide Sydney managing director Phil Dowgierd and executive creative director Darwin Tomlinson, who are returning to the UK and US respectively. That saw Tribal Worldwide Melbourne managing director Rich Lloyd re-locate to Sydney to replace Dowgierd, with Matt Oxley taking on the Melbourne MD responsibilities.
Miranda Ward
Opens some pretty interesting doors for DDB looking at Lifelounge’s client list.
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Well done guys – Lifelounge is a brilliant agency. Great partnership for both. Congrats Dion & DDB.
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Lifelounge is awesome. Will DDB letting them continue to produce their kick ass mag though?
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Ben, Lifelounge is a lot more than a magazine. A lot more. It is a media and creative powerhouse that will benefit DDB and their clients immensely. A proper hotshop with the acumen and awards to prove it. Dion is an awesome operator and will take DDB to new heights. Mag or not.
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@ex-lounger – it’s clearly been a while since you’ve been there …
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Told ya.
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