TBWA chief strategy officer Hristos Varouhas promoted to global role at TBWA/Media Arts Lab
TBWA’s chief strategy officer Hristos Varouhas has been appointed as global chief strategy officer for TBWA/Media Arts Lab, which will see him head up global strategy for Apple, Mumbrella can reveal.
He will be replaced by Matt Springate, Grey London’s managing planner partner, who will join TBWA Sydney as chief strategy officer from July.
Varouhas’ latest appointment will see him move to the US
Varouhas joined TBWA eight years ago as executive planning director before being appointed as chief strategy officer in 2015.
In his time with the agency, Varouhas has been part of the team which led Whybin/TBWA Group Sydney to be named AWARD agency of the year in 2013 and Effie Effectiveness agency of the year.
Across his career, Varouhas has won 14 Gold Effies, two Grand Prix Awards, a Cannes Effectiveness Lion, and an APG Grand Prix.
Most recently, Varouhas was involved in the Tourism New Zealand campaign featuring Oscar-winning director James Cameron, and Foxtel’s Chris Hemsworth’s campaign and David Jones’ latest Christmas work.
In his new role, Varouhas will oversee strategy at TBWA/Media Arts Lab which is the hidden, confidential, creative space for the Apple brand, headquartered in California.
He will be replaced by Springate, who will work with Andy DiLallo – DiLallo, former chief creative officer at M&C Saatchi, is set to join TBWA in June this year – Nitsa Lotus and Paul Bradbury in Sydney, across the agency’s clients including Foxtel, David Jones, Virgin Mobile and ANZ.
Prior to Grey London, Springate was group strategy director at Droga5 New York where he led strategy on American Express, Diet Coke and Mondelez’s Honey Maid and belVita, and also contributed to building start up agency The Brooklyn Brothers in the UK.
Springate joins TBWA Sydney from Grey London, where he was managing planning partner.
Paul Bradbury, CEO of TBWA Australasia, said Varouha’s departure from the Sydney office was “an incredibly opportunity” for him.
“Hristos and I have been close partners at TBWA for the last eight years. I am really happy for him as this is an incredible opportunity. Lucky for us we will still see a lot of H in his new role.
“We are very excited about the arrival of Matt Springate. Matt is a world-class strategic thinker and we are very pleased he has decided to join us,” he added.
“The new partnership between Andy DiLallo and Matt with DisruptionTM and Disruption Live at their disposal will be a very exciting time for TBWA.”
TBWA Sydney’s current clients include Foxtel, Fox Sports, David Jones and Apple.
Massive congratulations H that is bloody amazing, what a bloody cool gig. I’m sure Jamie will take all the credit.
User ID not verified.
Serious congrats H, what a credit to you. And always a pleasure to work with.