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M&C Saatchi takes The Monkeys head of digital Ben Cooper as group innovation director

Ben CooperOne of adland’s most respected digital minds Ben Cooper has been poached from The Monkeys by M&C Saatchi Sydney for the newly created role of group innovation director, Mumbrella can reveal.

Cooper will head innovation across the ten businesses that comprise the M&C Saatchi Group, leading social, mobile and content across the agency and will work alongside CEO Jaimes Leggett and ECD Ben Welsh.

Since losing the David Jones account last year to Whybin\TBWA Sydney the agency has moved to bolster its offering, hiring Justin Graham from Droga5 and Optus group head Chiquita King from Leo Burnett.

Prior to the new role Cooper has worked at The Monkeys as the agency’s digital director for the past four and a half years, working on a variety of projects including Ice Break’s ‘Add a Motor to it’ campaign and  Ikea’s Klippbok iPad App.

In a statement Cooper said: “Everything has clicked for me. A strong team, aligned ambition and bold clients. What really grabbed me was the incredible amount of thought M&C Saatchi has put into where it’s heading. They’ve a strong vision, an empowered team and the smarts to place digital and innovation at the heart of the agency.

“It’s intensely exciting to be at the cusp of such a big future for the agency.”

Prior to his time with The Monkeys Cooper was partner and senior digital strategist at The Population for just over a year following nearly three years as digital strategist at Host.

In  a statement M&C Saatchi CEO Jaimes Leggett said: “We’re thrilled to have Ben joining us. He is world class. Equal parts digital strategist, digital creative and technologist, Ben brings a stellar skillset to the table, which added to his experience and leadership, makes him unique to this market. A good bloke too, which helps.”

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