According to “Andy Flemming’s mum” who wrote his LinkedIn bio, Flemming “left England in 1992, where he’d worked for absolutely no money at various big London companies who really should have paid him. Really. At the very least he could have got a trade. You know, something with his hands.”

Well Mum, Flemming has done OK, after all. He has just been promoted to group creative director at M&S Saatchi Australia. He has also been a creative director there for the last ten years working, no doubt, for quite good money.

In his new role, Flemming will be responsible for “driving the creative vision across the group’s agencies and encouraging the very best copy standards – writing being his fundamental passion,” his agency said of him. Well done, Mum.

Jaimes Leggett, Group chief executive officer, “Andy is one of the most talented and passionate creative minds in the industry. He has made a massive contribution on work with some of our biggest clients.”

Chief creative officer, Andy DiLallo, added, “We have a very clear mandate for any new talent entering the building – top 5% of talent in the world. It’s driven by a belief that good isn’t good enough. We want people whose driving ambition is to be brilliant. It’s no surprise there are people already residing in the building that fit this mould. Andy Flemming is a brilliant example. He is the undeniable archetype for what we think it takes to reshape and help define the future Australian creative landscape. He is not only a world-class talent but also a ball of infectious passion and energy. This is a well-deserved promotion, and one that signals our intentions for the creative department moving forward.”

Apparently the source of Flemming’s mum’s distress was that he began his career working in the back of an illegally-parked VW Beetle in London. Leaving was a good call. He then worked at Chiat/Day/Mojo, BSB Hong Kong, Bates Singapore and George Patterson Melbourne and Sydney.

He has been responsible for writing some of the Group’s biggest campaigns, including the CAN Launch with Toni Collette, Kids for CommBank, Jumper and Dancer for Lexus and almost every major Optus campaign from the agency including Idris Elba’s Love letter to football for the upcoming Premier League launch campaign.

Flemming’s mum says that he has “won lots of awards. Can, DAD, OneShoe and others he can’t be bothered to tell us about. He never calls. And we know he’s on Skype. His name comes up.”

Flemming, though, cites being bitten by a lion in Africa as his major career highlight.

He commented, “M&C Saatchi has reinvented itself many times making it a truly exciting place to be a creative. There’s an enormous passion and hunger for the work, and it comes straight from the very top down. Personally, as a writer, there are very few places that would have given me the opportunities I’ve had here, or indeed allow me to wear camouflage pants. I look forward to working with Andy and Michael and helping to write the next chapter.”