DDB Group Australia’s mantra is ‘why not’. So why not make its DDB Melb CCO and Rapp MD joint heads of DDB Melbourne?

In fact, why not bring all the DDB Melbourne agencies together and make Darren Spiller (main image) and Dave Brown head of DDB Melbourne Group?

That’s what DDB has done.

DDB Melbourne chief creative officer, Darren Spiller, and RAPP Melbourne managing director, Dave Brown, have been made joint heads of the new formed group made up of DDB, Tribal, Mango, DDB Shop and Rapp.

 Dave Brown

“In the words of our founder Bill Bernbach, ‘Is creativity some obscure, esoteric artform? Not on your life. It’s the most practical thing a businessman can employ’,” Spiller commented about the status this gives to creativity at DDB.

DDB Group Australia chief executive officer, Andrew Little, commented “In the past two years, Melbourne has grown exponentially and has produced outstanding and multi-award winning creative married to a leading and innovative strategic offering. In response to this trajectory – we are now looking at a broader senior management structure.

“Dave has done an outstanding job growing RAPP Melbourne into an innovative CRM and digital agency and is the perfect candidate to partner Darren and lead DDB Group Melbourne going forward. We believe the Spiller/Brown leadership will be a force to be reckoned with.”

Brown commented, “We have 130 incredibly talented people in Melbourne across DDB, Mango, RAPP, Tribal and Shop. Daz and I are passionate about nurturing and deploying the best talent from each business unit, so our clients get truly innovative and effective business solutions to their unique growth challenges.”

Spiller added, “The DDB Melbourne Group is in such a strong position – both creatively and from a business performance viewpoint. I’m looking forward to partnering with Dave and about giving creativity its rightful place at the boardroom table. I will concentrate on the creative output across all the DDB Group brands as well as applying creative thinking to client’s business challenges.”

Simon Bagnasco has been appointed executive creative director of DDB Melbourne.

l-r: Phil Dowgierd, Rich Little, Darwin Tomlinson

Tribal has also undergone a major reshuffling. Tribal Worldwide Sydney executive creative director, Darwin Tomlinson, has left the agency and Australia. He has retuned to the US. Managing director, Phil Dowgierd, has left and returned to the UK.

Tribal Melbourne managing director, Rich Lloyd, has moved to Sydney to take up the top national job from there and Matt Oxley will head Tribal Melbourne with the title, Head of Technology.