Special hires new group creative directors
Special has strengthened its creative output with two group creative director appointments, Zoë Hawkins and Russel Fox.
The pair will work across the full spectrum of Special clients, charged with helping to develop and mentor younger teams and push Special’s creative standard forward.
Hawkins and Fox bring extensive local and global experience to the roles.
Russel Fox and Zoë Hawkins
Hawkins has spent over 15 years in the industry, working on clients like Nike, Mini UK, Levi’s, Heineken, and Booking.com at international agencies Wieden+Kennedy, BBC Creative, and AKQA. She has worked across Sydney, Auckland, London, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Shanghai, and the US.
She said Special “feels exciting, like we’re on the edge of something, with so much more to come”. She described the agency as “my kind of place”, because “everyone here is full of passion, strives for creative excellence, and believes ideas come first and egos come last”.
Meanwhile, Fox has been a long-established creative in the Australian industry, joining Special after seven years with M+C Saatchi. Prior to that, he spent nearly 15 years with Clemenger Group, at agencies Clemenger BBDO and BBDO New York.
He compared joining the agency to “stepping on a fast-moving train”.
“Except everyone on board is surprisingly calm, weirdly good at their job, and still trying to go faster. I’m here for it,” he said in a release.
Ryan Fitzgerald, ECD at Special Melbourne, said in the release: “Zoë and Russel are both from amazing creative pedigree and have proven their talents locally and internationally. Above all though, they’re great people who go the right way about creating outstanding work.
“We’re super excited to have them here to deepen our talent pool, create extraordinary ideas and stir up my imposter syndrome.”
The agency recently welcomed another creative duo to the fold, Peter Defries and Alan Wilson. The pair returned to Australia after a decade in New York, and have been appointed to lead the Uber and Uber Eats accounts, which Special has held since 2017.
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Lauren McNamara was the associate editor at Mumbrella. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS. She left Mumbrella in August 2025.
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creative
group creative director
Russel Fox
Ryan Fitzgerald
special
Special Group
Zoë Hawkins
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