“We’re really pleased to welcome Nick to the DDB Sydney family. He’s a brilliant fit for our culture and where our business is heading.”  [DDB Australia chief executive officer, Andrew Little]

Nick Russo feels just as thrilled about his new position as managing partner on Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.

“The opportunity to work at DDB Sydney on Volkswagen was a no-brainer. An iconic agency, and an iconic brand,” he stated.

“I’m looking forward to helping drive Volkswagen to great sales results, and cutting through in really competitive markets with some stand out creative. “I jumped at the chance to work with the DDB Sydney crew, particularly with Ben (Welsh, DDB CCO) again because we share a passion for great work, and work that works.”

Russo joins DDB from M&C Saatchi where he had been group head on Lexus, Lilydale, Steggles, Moccona, Freedom Furniture and Dick Smith Electronics for the last six years, and group account director for nearly five years prior to that.

DDB Sydney has a long history with Volkswagen. It won the Volkswagen Passenger Vehicles business in Australia in 2001 followed by the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (CV) and Skoda accounts in 2015.

Volkswagen CV’s most famous campaign via DDB Sydney was the 2016 The Naked Ute Amarok campaign, which picked up a bunch of awards including a Silver Cannes Lion. This was followed up by the Mad Max-inspired Korama work for the Amarok V6.

https://youtu.be/txaLNhPvs9o

“I was a big fan of The Naked Ute and its success,’ Russo commented, “and I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do with the Amarok in the future. Commercial Vehicles is such an exciting segment. There are so many established utes to take on, we want to continue to shake things up and prove that what people call a ‘posh ute’ is actually a very serious player.”