Adrian Mills (McCann Melbourne managing director), David Phillips (head of strategy and media) and Matt Lawson (executive creative director) have left McCann Melbourne together to join Deloitte Digital to lead its brand creative & media team.

Lawson will become principal and chief creative officer of Deloitte Digital. Mills and Phillips will join the business as partners. They will work with Deloitte Digital, Deloitte’s broader consulting business and the rest of the professional services firm.

Phillips commented, “Marketing has changed. There are those that are falling behind, and those that are trying to catch up. For Australia’s leading organisations to survive, the best creative talent need to work with the best strategists, the best data scientists and the best digital technicians and they can only get that at Deloitte.”

Each of the three has contributed to McCann’s becoming an ad agency worthy of global recognition. Together Lawson, Mills and Phillips have won 82 Cannes Lions including a Titanium, 7 Grand Prix, 32 Gold and 2 D&AD Black Pencils.

Mills was the account director who delivered Dumb Ways to Die, the most awarded and engaged-with campaign in the history of advertising.

“Clients shouldn’t have to choose between a creative agency and an accountable agency. Deloitte offers clients the best in strategy, data, enterprise and digital skills informing a world’s best practice creative product. As we drive towards a goal of turning marketing into a profit centre, the opportunity for clients is completely transformative,” he commented.

Phillips led the agency to the top of the Australian rankings at the APAC Effies and WARC awards.

The 2017 Global Big Won report ranks Lawson, executive creative director at McCann, as the top copywriter in the world and in 2015 he was awarded the title of Australian Creative of the Year.

He stated, “It is inspiring to see a truly intelligent business putting creativity at the heart of their offering. These days, the most effective creative solution is rarely just advertising and we are fortunate to be working with Deloitte’s AR, VR, innovation, interiors, design and research teams to leverage the incredible opportunity in this firm.”

Also joining the team from McCann will be Justine Mills in the capacity of director of media, a role which will support clients looking to bring media services in-house with full end-to-end business integration.

Steve Hallam, lead partner, Deloitte Digital, commented, “We are always on the lookout for people who drive disruption. So to have the hottest creative industry talent in Australia choosing to be part of our business is genuinely exciting.

“We are not seeing this as another advertising offering, but an integral part of the Deloitte team; integrating creative, media and brand strategy into all our other service offerings such as customer experience, experience design, storytelling, AR, VR and marketing optimisation.

“The strength of this team is their ability to clearly articulate and build the right idea to help businesses understand where they’re moving to rather than where they’re moving from. In an era of rapid industry disruption, that distinction is critical for business success.”

Jason Hutchinson, partner, Deloitte Digital, added, “Adrian, David and Matt’s creation and delivery of authentic engagements between consumers and the brands they love complements Deloitte’s deep industry knowledge, business transformation, organisational change and versatile technology experience. The combination will offer a transformative perspective that helps CMOs to reimagine the experience of their customers and answers the needs of businesses for a holistic connection between their brands and the consumer.”