Enigma selects Innocean’s Karl Bates for new executive strategy director role
Independent agency Enigma has appointed global brand strategist Karl Bates to the newly created role of executive strategy director, effective immediately.
Bates joins the agency with more than 15 years of management, agency and client skills, with global experience in automotive, FMCG, finance, telecommunications, technology and government.
Most recently, Bates spent three years as executive planning director at creative agency Innocean. Prior to that, he held executive planning roles at BWM dentsu, where he delivered award-winning campaigns for Toyota, BOQ, Babylove, and the Garvan Institute, and the McCann Worldgroup, creating work for clients including Coca Cola, MasterCard, Uncle Tobys, L’Oreal and Nimble.
Earlier in his career, Bates founded German agency D-Office and worked with clients like Swatch, adidas and Levi Strauss Europe. He has also worked in planning roles for several UK and German-based agencies.
Enigma founder and director, Lisa Sutton Gardner, said Bates’ creativity, focus, and results-driven approach would be an invaluable asset to the agency.
“Karl’s passion is rolling his sleeves up for clients and creating from scratch. He’s a highly experienced strategist and is well-respected across the industry. He’s worked on some incredible, award-winning campaigns and gone above and beyond for his clients and on top of that he’s a delightful person. I’m absolutely thrilled he is joining the Enigma team,” she said.
Commenting on his appointment, Bates said: “I’m excited to join Lisa and the Enigma team and work in a fully integrated agency with creative, media and brand under one roof. Enigma’s reputation for delivering highly awarded, effective advertising was a key attraction, along with its commitment to offering world-class design. My passion is creating dynamic campaigns to deliver real-world results, so this new role is a great fit.”
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