Ex-Aussie, Matt Eastwood, has been worldwide chief creative officer of J. Walter Thompson since 2014. His role no longer exists and he is leaving the agency.
Eastwood stated, “I am incredibly proud of what we achieved creatively during my tenure at J. Walter Thompson. Having assessed my personal and professional goals, now feels like the right time to move on to my next adventure.”
He has every right to be incredibly proud. Eastwood joined J.Walter Thompson from DDB New York, where he was chief creative officer. J.Walter Thompson reawakened the role of worldwide chief creative officer for him. It had been dormant since Craig Davis’ departure in 2009. With Eastwood holding the creative rudder, JWT has advanced from 15th in the Gunn Report to 7th in the last two annual network rankings. It has also moved from the 14th most awarded network at Cannes Lions to the 7th last year.
In 2016, with 80 Lions and 122 shortlisted entries, JWT won more Lions than it had in the 152-year history of the company. It was the 2nd most awarded network at D&AD in 2017, Network of the Year at Dubai Lynx, Health Network of the Year at Clio and 5th most awarded network overall last year.
In her statement, worldwide chief executive officer, Tamara Ingram, commented, “We are reimagining the future of the agency. This was a structural decision that will allow us to be more agile, leverage our collective global bench strength and encourage the burgeoning diverse maker culture growing within J. Walter Thompson. We would like to thank Matt Eastwood for his contributions and wish him continued success in his future endeavours.”
In the statement she sent throughout JWT, Ingram hinted that the Worldwide Creative Council members, which sets creative standards and practices to improve the quality of the network’s work, will be more diverse in the future and will be chosen as needed. “We are increasingly relying on the people who are closest to making and creating the work,” she said. She also stated that technology will be used to evaluate creative concepts at a much earlier stage.
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