A blog for the New Zealand creative advertising industry, now at www.campaignbrief.com/nz. Email news to: michael@campaignbrief.com

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

McCRACKEN APPOINTED EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR AT OGILVY SINGAPORE

Ogilvy Singapore has appointed Kiwi expat Todd McCracken as its executive creative director. McCracken, who starts in January, left his last gig as regional creative chief of Grey earlier this year.
According to the Ogilvy PR release, McCracken has clocked more than a decade of experience in the industry, accumulating countless accolades from the world’s leading creative award shows including a Grand Prix at Cannes. Most notably, he is the winner of seven Marketing Effectiveness Gold accolades and the creator of New Zealand’s most successful campaign, which was voted Most Loved by New Zealand People’s Choice Award for five years in a row.

17 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow. McCracken in Singapore working for Ogilvy. Number 1 in the CampaignBrief Asia rankings within the year. The work he did at Grey Auckland was amazing and a market like Singapore will really focus Todd's creative energy.

7:18 pm NZDT

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Is that you Todd?

9:45 pm NZDT

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I thought Todd left advertising to go off and get involved in his property investments.
At least that story was better than the old 'I am going to write a book' bollocks

1:23 am NZDT

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Cigaretten!

Nice one Toddles.

8:17 am NZDT

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

No flies on Todd. Good luck on the far side!

7:21 pm NZDT

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Er, what was New Zealand’s most successful campaign five years in a row?

6:19 pm NZDT

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

6:19 - that would be asb bank, goldstien: michael syme, scott whybin, matt kemsley and a few others i'm sure.

10:19 pm NZDT

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

6.19 - as with all press releases they overstate the truth. McCkacken wasn't even at Whybins when they did Goldstein so I'd be interested to find out how he created it.

9:42 am NZDT

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

3 people's choices, not 5. Get your facts straight Todd.

11:13 am NZDT

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yes, that would be the ASB Bank campaign that's as beloved by the public as it's disdained by the ad industry.

6:19 is right that many people contributed to the campaign, including Todd who was there when it was created, but not yet CD. He was CD for the second series.

Michael Syme was the crucial creative and deserves first credit.

But one name that never seems to be mentioned is Nick Goldwater. While Michael and others - including of course Paul Middleditch - made the campaign fly, it was Nick that came up with the idea in the first place (Goldwater/Goldstein geddit?).

Not looking to create any ripples here, I've just always thought Nick's contribution was under-recognised.

Craig Love

12:00 pm NZDT

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oops. I mean 10:19 is right, not 6:19.

12:02 pm NZDT

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think you'll find he wasn't there at the time it was created.

That's one of the biggest "in the room at the time" claims ever. He wasn't even in the building.

Matt.

3:51 pm NZDT

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Matt,

I'll bow to your first hand knowledge there. I arrived for the second and third series and was not there for the first.

Craig

4:45 pm NZDT

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

All due respect Craig, but if you are going to take the role of the oracle and tell all and sundry who did what, you should know what you are talking about. Nice that you owned up though, after Matt pointed out the error of your ways.

10:57 am NZDT

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good point. Apologies.
Craig

4:24 pm NZDT

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Todd!

1:08 am NZDT

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

craig, wasn't it you that wrote most of todd's winningest ideas? Or was that connan... Or was that Gary Larsen...

10:11 pm NZDT

 

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