Wednesday, September 20, 2006

BACK TO LEAVE SAATCHI & SAATCHI AUCKLAND FOR DEPUTY CD POST AT DDB SYDNEY


CB hears highly awarded Saatchi & Saatchi Auckland head of art, Steve Back, is heading back to Australia to join DDB Sydney as deputy CD and head of art. The move will bring Back full circle, once again reporting to his former Perth AWARD School mentor, Matt Eastwood (himself a former Perth AWARD School graduate), now ECD and deputy chairman of DDB Australia.
As a result of Back's appointment, CB hears former DDB Sydney head of art Murray Bransgrove will be leaving the agency and current deputy CD, Richard Sellbourne is taken a senior writer title.
Back was originally lured to NZ from London by Mike O'Sullivan, then ECD at Colenso BBDO Auckland, and followed him when he took up the ECD gig at Saatchi NZ. In London, Back had several high profile senior gigs including deputy CD of Grey, head of art and CD of Walsh Trott Chick Smith and group CD at Partners BDDH. Before London, he was head of art at Leo Burnett Sydney (part of the 2000 CB Agency of the Year team, teamed with Mark Collis, now national ECD of Burnetts).
Back started his career in 1991 at Mojo in Perth, followed by three years at Marketforce. In 1996 he headed east, securing a senior art director gig at George Patterson Bates in Sydney, where he first teamed up with Collis.
Awards include a Silver and Bronze Lion at Cannes; one Silver and two Bronze Pencils at The One Show; five Acceptances at D&AD; four Bronze at Clio; one Silver and 17 Bronze Pencils at AWARD; two ADMA Gold; plus one Silver and three Bronze Bullets at Young Guns.
An announcement from DDB of Back's appointment is expected soon, while Saatchi NZ are expected to announce a whole raft of changes within the agency early next week.

34 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great move Backy. DDB is starting to look pretty sweet. Besides which, you belong in Australia anyway mate.

8:26 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I've seen a couple of nice things come out of DDB since Eastwood arrived. Steve should definitely help kick things along. Well done.

8:27 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well back, Back!!!

8:28 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Backy is a genius.

What he doesn't eat he turns into award winning work.

He has made me question my sexuality.

And he has a tender touch.

I know he will do well.

7:14 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Backy is a good..... executer of ideas!

8:18 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Back off 7.14 he's mine

8:38 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good luck mate....you'll need it round there.

8:42 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Congrats Backy!!
Well deserved mate. I reckon that should see DDB coming even further back on track after the "dark" years...

8:44 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What's going to happen to Oggy now Murray's gone?

Where's Muzz off to??

9:32 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Is Backy wacky?

10:27 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dark years? In the last 10 years CB's Agency of the year twice ,runner up twice,and in the top 5 all the while.

11:07 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Obviously DDB have had a meeting to assemble a range of comments to create some sort of cred.

Hopefully when Back arrives he can use his talent to write something a little less see through.

It's a sinking ship. You should be throwing weight off of doomed vessel not hiring a big man like Backy Matt.

11:14 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well done Backy, it'll be great to have you back here. DDB are clawing their way back. Your talents will certainly be of great service.

11:47 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

So what is the story with Saatchis Auckland? Why are so many people bugging out?

11:59 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Doomed Vessel? If DDB is a doomed vessel then Jennifer Hawkins is bloody ugly.

12:22 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What has DDB done? It's a crap hole. Go back bakkie.

12:24 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Spot on 11.14....DDB craves PR more than doing great work.....has anyone there owned up to that Continental crap with Supernanny Jo Frost yet?

12:26 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What on earth has DDB done that's decent in the last six months? It's all just vanilla wallpaper to appease pissed off clients.

12:26 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What about the continental 'Look for the C' when they launched the packaging...

"Great new packaging."
"Mmmmm it's fantastic isn't it"
"Love the funky new look" (then i ran out of the room screaming and putting acid in my eyes).

DDB is full of scared suits and seems to prefer hiring big names than producing good work.

What happened to Burton & Bowman?? They didn't get an ad up the whole time they were there.

12:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

They didn't get an ad up the whole four months they were there.

True.

1:11 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Got a great new logo for DDB. Got a pen ready? Write a lowercase d. Above that write a capital D so the straight lines meet on top. Then to finish, simple write b to form a shaft and two balls.
Love M!$H@

2:04 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm sure it had nothing to do with what they were creating.

2:13 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

For a male dominated industry there are a lot of bitches out there.

2:21 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Deaf Dumb & Blonde. And that's the blokes.

3:27 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You can tell where guys like 2:21 work.

I worked there years ago and the philosophy was 'Life's too short to work with a bastard'.

While some were great guys the majority in management were c*nts and I think any agency that needs to advertise 'hey, we're the nice guys' has something to hide. I've never encountered more bitching and gossip than my time at ddb, including growing up in a village.

Hopefully, that culture's changed, 2:21.

5:16 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sydney's fucked. Go Eagles.

6:56 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jeez. Why all the vitriol about DDB? Haven't they been agency of the year twice in the past 5 or 6 years. Horner's been "removed". Eastwood's been there 5 minutes and he's cleaned out the rest of the chaff. Backy's a great hire. Let's see what happens next. Relax!!!

9:09 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think I'm gonna go to McDonalds...

8:47 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Who's the 'short bastard' 5.16?

9:47 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Does Saatchi's PR all of it's great work for the seven signs of aging or the El Paso flat bottomed tacos?

10:13 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's all going to be great. I'm sure Matt will win as many awards at DDB as he has elsewhere through his career.

12:01 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yes, 10:13, they do.

12:23 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You mean in 2007, Luke?

11:30 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why are so many creatives jumping ship from saatchis aukland? Anyone?

11:04 PM  

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