Agency future in question as founder joins Ogilvy ANZ
Founder of Melbourne-based creative agency Heartland, Ant Simmons, has joined Ogilvy ANZ as group creative director, effective immediately.
Simmons brings over 20 years experience in creative leadership and branding to the role.
Simmons and Badger
Recently appointed Ogilvy Melbourne ECD, Hilary Badger, said Simmons brings a unique combination of creative and strategic experience to the new role.
“Ant brings world-class platform thinking teamed with global ambition,” she said. “As well as his exceptional ideas, we’re thrilled to have his craft skills within our strong team.
“Ant is also an outstanding creative leader, who can create growth not only for our clients, but for our team. As a mentor, he’ll have an eye on career development for both our existing rising stars and new joiners to Ogilvy.”
Simmons, who previously worked with Badger at Clemenger BBDO, said he’s thrilled to be re-joining her.
“I had the pleasure of working alongside Hilary for many years at Clemenger Melbourne and it’s great to have a strong working relationship already in place,” he said.
“Hil has created a great space to do good work on arguably Australia’s and indeed the world’s most notable clients.”
Simmons founded Heartland in March 2021, and described the agency as “human centred creativity applied to the world of brands”. The agency has worked with global clients including Mecca Brands Australia, Heineken Asia Pacific and Chanel Contos’ sexual consent advocacy organisation Teach Us Consent.
While Ogilvy confirmed to Mumbrella today that Simmons will be stepping away from Heartland, the future of the agency is unknown, as Simmons was the only listed employee, according to its LinkedIn.
Heartland’s social media pages, specifically LinkedIn and Instagram, have been inactive since May 2023, just over two years since its launch.
Mumbrella has contacted Simmons for further comment.
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Lauren McNamara is a journalist at Mumbrella, covering the creative and PR beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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