Whybin\TBWA NZ management shake-up as CEO David Walden and creative chief Andy Blood depart
Whybin NZ’s Todd McLeay and Toby Talbot
The New Zealand operation of Whybin\TBWA has installed a new management team as long-serving CEO David Walden and star creative chief Andy Blood leave the agency after 25 years of combined service.
Heavily rumoured in recent weeks, Walden confirmed his departure yesterday, bringing to an end 16 years with the agency.
He will remain in a consultant role, handing over to new boss Todd McLeay.
McLeay joins from APN New Zealand where he was COO, heading up its publishing and digital business. He will team up with new chief creative officer Toby Talbot, who joins from Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe Y&R in London, where he was ECD.
The new duo have worked together before; Walden was running NZ Lotteries while Talbot was ECD at Lotteries’ agency DDB. The pairing was placed by recruiter Hourigan International.
Waldren said in a statement: “I’m extremely proud of the group we’ve built here in New Zealand since Scott [Whybin, founder and chairman of Whybin\TBWA Group] and I started the company in 1997. Whybin\TBWA’s continued success is important to me and I know the agency will be in great hands with Toby and Todd”.
Multi-award-winning ECD Andy Blood is to end nine years with Whybins. He said: “2012 was a fantastic year for the agency – we launched our biggest campaign ever for Tourism New Zealand and helped our long-time client 2degrees to the one million customer landmark. I hope 2013 is even more successful and I think it’s brilliant that Toby will be part of that.”
“I decided last year that I wanted to move on. To start afresh and explore new opportunities,” he said.
Scott Whybin said: “Andy has been with us for almost nine years and has contributed enormously to our strong growth and creative reputation. Filling Andy’s shoes was a near impossible task so we are thrilled that Toby, who has an impeccable creative reputation and truly understands the New Zealand market, will be joining us.”
TBWA’s international president Keith Smith said: “I am delighted that we have attracted two outstanding and proven performers. It’s a very exciting time for us and with Todd and Toby on board, we are well positioned to take our business to the next level in New Zealand. This unique partnership is a blueprint for a new order of how we run our agencies in this rapidly changing world.”
