Wunderman Thompson Australia has found its new national chief creative officer. Wunderman Thompson’s international star creative, João Braga, will lead the agency’s creative capabilities nationally from January.
The world-class creative leader joins WT Australian from his role as chief creative officer for Wunderman Thompson SE Asia and his base in WT Thailand, where he led a team of 60 creatives. Under Braga’s creative leadership, the Thailand office launched campaigns such as the highly awarded Netflix Narcos The Censor’s Cut for Netflix; Sunsilk’s Hair Talk which won multiple Cannes Lion wins, including a Lion for creative effectiveness, in 2019; Thai Airways Stay at Home Miles Exchange and The Lonely Rambutan.
Wunderman Thompson Thailand is now recognised as one of the top three agencies globally in the WT network and the most awarded office in the APAC network, winning top awards in multiple categories at Cannes, Clio, Effies, D&AD and the One Show.
Braga will be based in Sydney and will lead all creative output from across Wunderman Thompson’s Australian offices.
Lee Leggett, chief executive officer at Wunderman Thompson ANZ, commented, “We had some incredible conversations with talent located across the globe from both inside and outside our network. But we were delighted to find out one of the best global creatives already worked for Wunderman Thompson and was keen to make the move to Australia.
“We’re thrilled to have found João, a leader who knows our vision as an agency and has a brilliant ability to push beyond the traditional by using insight, data and technology to create the best pieces of work.”
Braga stated, “Wunderman Thompson Australia has the ambition and the right set of skills to be a real inspiration powerhouse. My job is to accelerate that. We’ll build bridges, connect different talents and capabilities, people and brands. I’m just so thrilled with the opportunity to make some stellar creative work in such an iconic market and see our people and our business grow alongside some of the best, bravest clients out there.”
SheungYan Lo, chief creative officer of Wunderman Thompson APAC, noted, “We are grateful for what João has done in Wunderman Thompson Bangkok. He has built such an impressive creative force on the ground in just a few years. Awards, business wins, talents and morale have grown tremendously. We are confident that his experience and passion will spark another exciting journey in Australia in the years to come.”
Braga was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and has worked in three continents in the last twenty years, in senior creative roles including global creative director for Ogilvy in Singapore, executive creative director for Publicis in Portugal, creative lead at J. Walter Thompson in Brazil and creative lead at Lew’Lara\TBWA in Brazil.
Braga will lead a team of 54 creatives in Australia and replaces Simon Langley.
