‘I was fired’: Naked’s ECD Jon Burden exits
Jon Burden, executive creative director at Naked Communications has had his contract terminated by the creative agency, Mumbrella can reveal.
Burden joined the agency in 2015 from his previous five year stint as a creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi.
Jon Burden (left) “relaxing with beautiful Mrs Burden at beautiful Camp Cove”
Prior to his stint at Saatchi & Saatchi, Burden was a creative partner at Banjo for a year after he departed The Campaign Palace as a creative director.
Burden’s departure comes seven months after Naked Communications’ strategy director Craig Adams exited the agency to return to London.
Two months later the agency hired Emotive’s chief strategy officer Lucielle Vardy to join Naked Communications as head of strategy.
Burden sent the following statement to Mumbrella about his departure: “The weekend starts here for Jon Burden. Here I am, relaxing with beautiful Mrs Burden at beautiful Camp Cove. All this was made possible because my contract was terminated (I was fired) from Naked Communications as their ECD.
“I wanted to take this opportunity to announce it in an honest way vs the usual PR spin. It’s been an amazing three years. I’m proud of Sans Forgetica plus some other cool projects and wins. Thanks to Matthew Melhuish, The Naked team (past and present) and Naked’s wonderful clients. Naked is a nutty but special little place with wonderful people – I’ve loved my time there. Keep punching guys.
“And to everyone else, here’s my book and I’m open for a chat. Love a tea.”
Naked’s MD, Tim Kirby, said in a statement: “Jon has brought a great deal of creative passion to Naked over the past three years. He leaves us a better agency than when he started, with a strong creative legacy and an outstanding team to build on the work he has done. We are very thankful for his contribution.”
Abigail Dawson was Mumbrella's senior content journalist covering event content. She left Mumbrella to move into an agency role in 2020.
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Jon you are one of the nicest guys in the business. Good luck and best wishes. AK
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But why were you fired?
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Stay classy Jon….
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A true class act. What a legend.
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Refreshing to hear! Far too many “moving onto the next journey” facades. I asked my previous employer to tell the truth and say I was terminated, but no I was moving on to another journey when the email went out. Perhaps others would realise the 2 other people previously in my role in the last 12 months were fired as well if they did that.
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Jon why are you thanking Matt. If he’s the one who fired you then we’d love to know the spin free reason for the departure.
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Why is this Mumbrella’s featured homepage story of all the stories in Australia’s media and marketing world? Is it the irony of a comms business called Naked struggling to bare it all? Or is it more primal, in an “if it bleeds, it leads” sort of way. Either way, I hope the nice weather holds for Jon.
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Has Mumbrella become the Woman’s Day of the marketing industry?
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A great response from a great human being. Go forth…
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Perhaps the intentions were honest but this announcement comes across as a dummy spit. Agencies don’t just fire ECD’s without good reason. Thinly veiled swipe at his former employers. Classy.
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@Curious
You’ve revealed quite a lot in your comment.
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@Curious
This guy is being honest and looks like you’re angry about it. He would’t exit like this if he did something wrong. Sounds like you are not liking it
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presume that’s an ironic use of the word ‘become’
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Yes, but not all those ‘good reasons’ are because the ECD is bad.
I worked at an agency who had (if I recall correctly) 3 ECDs in 4 years – sometimes people just aren’t the right fit culturally, or priorities change, etc etc.
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“Agencies don’t just fire ECD’s without good reason.”
That’s a joke, right?
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Sorry to see you go Jon. We’ll miss your Scouser ways around the place. Go well mate.
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You can say this because you know what you are capable of and because you’ve done amazing. Everyone knows you’re a nice guy and talented. The next place will be very lucky to have you Jon.
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Jon is a legend. Everyone that has worked with him knows it… even if takes a while to auto-tune your ears to his scouse accent.
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I worked with Jon at Naked for a couple of years and I think this press release sums him up perfectly. It’s honest and brave. Keep it up as the industry needs more people like you.
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Good luck Jon!!
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Travel well Jon. Enjoy the space and get ready for the next venture.
Let’s catch up soon.
M
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Working with Jon was such a wonderful experience, very talented guy.
I’m quite sure he’s going to land something great.
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Honest and brave
The two most over-used and mis-used descriptors in the ad industry
File with truth, deep-dive and agile.
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Jon, you are an amazing creative and human being. Cannot wait to see what is in store for you next.
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Ditto!
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