Publicis snags Google’s Dave Bowman as new chief creative officer
Head of creative at Google, Dave Bowman has departed the company to join Publicis Groupe as its chief creative officer across Australia and New Zealand.
Bowman will now join the French group to lead its innovation and creativity. He joined Google in 2017 alongside Matty Burton from Special Group, where the pair were founding partners.
Bowman returns to agency life
Publicis Groupe’s chief creative officer for APAC & MEA, Natalie Lam, said: “I’m thrilled to be working with Dave to elevate the creative product across the Groupe in ANZ. He is a unique, modern creative leader with integrated experience from both the agency and media worlds; as well as having a true understanding of what brand building means in the digital age. I know he’ll bring a fresh approach to creativity in ANZ, as well as actively building an inclusive creative culture that’s connected across our agency brands.”
Publicis Groupe Australia and New Zealand CEO, Michael Rebelo, added: “There are very few people in our industry who have the breadth and level of marketing transformation experience that Dave has – having founded an agency, worked in various markets, and most recently spearheading the creative product of one of the world’s largest digital media platforms.
“This is the exact skillset we have been looking for to continue to take the 20 plus media, creative, tech and digital agencies across our Groupe to the next level.”
On joining Publicis from Google, Bowman said: “I am looking forward to partnering with Mike and the team to make a real impact across the Groupe in Australia and New Zealand. I’ve loved my time at Google and have learnt a lot. But, at the same time, I’ve also found myself itching to get back into an environment with creativity at its core; where there’s an opportunity to bring ideas, data, media, technology and storytelling together in ways the world hasn’t seen before. I can’t wait to get started.”
Bowman and Burton joined Special Group in 2014 from TBWA where they were executive creative directors. The pair then left three years later to join Google, running Google Zoo across the APAC region, while remaining shareholders in Special group.
In 2021, Burton left Google to join DDB as its group CCO in New Zealand.
Rebelo continued: “Connectivity and creativity – in its many forms – is a key competitive advantage for our clients at Publicis. Dave won’t just be partnering with our creative leaders, but also our media agency teams, digital and CX agencies and client leads to sprinkle the magic far and wide among our talent no matter what discipline and brand they come from. He will be pivotal in creatively bringing together our end-to-end capabilities, fusing compelling storytelling with data, technology and media as we continue to enhance our creative impact across our key connected clients.”
Bowman commences on 29 May.
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Calum Jaspan was news editor at Mumbrella, based in Melbourne. He was also the producer and host of the Mumbrellacast. He left Mumbrella in May 2023.
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