Tara Ford promoted to chief creative officer of DDB Sydney
DDB Sydney’s executive creative director (ECD), Tara Ford, has been promoted to chief creative officer (CCO).
The agency said this makes her the first female chief creative officer of a major Australian advertising agency.
Ben Welsh and Tara Ford
Ford will report into former CCO Ben Welsh, who recently expanded his remit to become national chief creative officer across DDB Sydney and DDB Melbourne.
Ford joined the agency from TBWA Melbourne in July 2017, and has worked in agencies across London, Amsterdam, Melbourne and Sydney.
The agency said that since joining, Ford had driven creative excellence for the agency’s clients including McDonald’s, Virgin Australia and Volkswagen. Welsh said it was therefore natural for Ford to be elevated into her new position.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYUGZzlb9vI
“Tara has been a fearless leader to the creative department in her time at DDB and still the best hire I’ve made in my 30-year career,” he said. “She has attracted great talent to the agency and is a role model to creatives in DDB and the wider industry.”
DDB Sydney’s managing director Priya Patel said Ford’s promotion shows the agency’s commitment to creativity.
“We believe creativity is the most powerful force in business and Tara plays an instrumental role in achieving our mission of being the most creative agency in Australia,” she said.
Ford added that she was exhilarated to take on the new role.
“It has been a superb environment to flourish and learn” she said of her time at DDB so far. “The talented people here have been incredibly supportive, special thanks to Ben and the team. We have some amazing clients who desire world-class creative. This is a killer combination. I’m genuinely excited about where we can take the agency next.”
Tara is a very good creative and creative leader and extremely impressive as a presenter, so this is in no way a slight on her – she deserves everything she gets.
But this is exhibit #76999 in the rampant title inflation that exists in our business
CCO, even 5 years ago was the highest title globally for a creative leader and now we have two based in one office?
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You can leap frog CD, move to ECD and then CCO in just 2 years. Going to need some new acronyms.
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