Ben Welsh was made creative chairman of M&C Saatchi Asia in September last year after he had been the executive creative director behind M&C Saatchi’s biggest haul of Cannes Lions ever. M&C brought home 10 Lions, including one of the five Titanium Lions on offer, from Cannes last year.

M&C Saatchi’s Ben Welsh: From a Titanium Lion to creative chairman of Asia

Welsh has now become chief creative officer of DDB Australia, following the departure of Toby Talbot to Assignment Group in New Zealand.

Assignment Group lures another top creative, DDB CCO Toby Talbot

The appointment has clearly pleased DDB chief executive officer, Andrew Little,  “Ben is such a great person and the perfect creative leader for our agency as we look to continue our creative trajectory.”

Welsh began his ad career as a copywriter at McCann. He moved up to senior copywriter at DDB and stayed there for five years before he became on of M&C Saatchi’s first creatives in 1997. He had been at M&C ever since. Welsh was promoted to creative director in 2003. By 2015, he had become the executive creative director leading 50 digital, direct, retail and above the line creatives in an ad agency placed on the top tier for creativity and innovation.

Welsh will start at DDB on August 1. “It’s a stand-out office in one of the world’s great networks, and the time is right for me to return to DDB,” Welsh stated.

“Toby has done a brilliant job during his tenure and I look forward to building on that. He has assembled a team brimming with talent whom I can’t wait to work with.”

DDB Group chairman, Marty O’Halloran, added, “Ben has long been at the forefront of exceptional creative work in Australia and I’m delighted to welcome him back to the DDB family. His proven track record of delivering integrated, award-winning telco, financial services and automotive campaigns will no doubt inspire the creative teams to continue to develop world-leading work.”