Michael Canning has left 72andSunny, where he has been creative group director for the past year and a half to become executive creative director at M&C Saatchi Sydney. That agency was ranked in Fast Company’s top 50 most innovative companies of 2015.
Before 72andSunny, Canning was at Leo Burnett New York for four years, two as executive creative director, responsible for creativity in key accounts for both Leo Burnett North America and Leo Burnett Worldwide. He was one of the global network’s youngest executive creative directors and a member of the Global Product Board.
He had left Leo Burnett Sydney, where he worked with Andy DiLallo as a creative director, to join Leo Burnett in the US.
Canning has built a solid reputation for his flair for content and new approaches to media that have a cultural impact for brands. His major US clients were the United Nations, FiLIP Technologies, Chobani, Kellogg’s, Target, General Mills, Samsung, Village Voice and Google.
He has won 40 Cannes Lions, including 2 Grand Prix for Media, 2 Agency of the Year titles and the inaugural Gold Lion for Branded Content and Entertainment. This year, he was invited to serve on the Cannes Lions Titanium and Integrated Jury.
Canning will now oversee the creative output for all brands at M&C Sydney, which was recently ranked the #2 agency in Asia Pacific in the Cannes Lions Global Creativity Report. His clients will include Optus, Google, NRMA Insurance and Commbank.
Canning commented, “I’ve been lucky to work with some great people in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago in recent years. M&C Saatchi Australia is a company I have always respected for the impact they create for big brands, and being asked to help lead a new chapter alongside this team has proved impossible to pass up. It’s a bonus that the global creative ambitions we share are based in Sydney”.
DiLallo added, “Michael has constantly created some of the industry’s most iconic and lauded work. Bringing him into the fold of M&C Saatchi is a testament to our commitment to offer clients the greatest competitive advantage creativity has to offer. In Michael’s new role he will also help to shape, inspire, and lead a creative department with a single-minded focus to be the best bar none.”
