Mother is creating two more executive creative director roles. Nick Hallbery and Tom Bender get to take those, Bender moving over from Wieden + Kennedy. Meanwhile, Kirsty Minns moves up from creative director to executive creative director at Mother Design.
Hallbery and Bender will work with chief creative officer, Felix Richter, to help manage the creative department and make Mother an ever-more attractive destination for creative minds.
Richter commented, “Mother is a collective of highly skilled creative leaders. This move is to get more strong creative voices helping to make more decisions across Mother.”
Minns has been at Mother since 2018. She was promoted in 2020 to be the creative leader for Mother Design. Her previous experience includes Google Creative Lab and The Future Laboratory.
Bender has been a writer-creative at CP+B and Droga5, plus Wieden+Kennedy London for the past six years. At W+K, he worked on many highly effective and award-winning campaigns, ranging from Three’s #PhonesAreGood to Nike’s Londoner. His work has received premium creative awards – including a Cannes Lions Grand Prix, Titanium, and seven D&AD Yellow Pencils.
He stated, “The opportunity to work with Felix and further bolster the Mother brand proved impossible to pass up. Everyone I’ve met from the agency family has big brains and even bigger hearts. I’m excited for the future and to see what we can do together.”
True to Mother’s previous form for identifying future talent (quoted from press release), Nick Hallbery started his career journey at Mother in 2009 as a placement. During the subsequent 13 years, there are few Mother client teams he hasn’t been part of. His work for IKEA, MoneySuperMarket and Stella Artois has won numerous awards, including Cannes Lions Gold and D&AD Yellow Pencil. Nick has been behind some of Mother’s most successful campaigns.
Hallbery stated, “I’ve been at Mother a reasonably long time now, so long, people often worry that I’m being held against my will, but it’s OK, really I’m fine. It’s actually an incredible pleasure and privilege to be asked to step up and help shape the next chapter of Mother and one I am very excited about.”
The new talent in a nutshell:
Kirsty Minns’ brief career history
- Mother Design, Creative Director to Executive Creative Director
- Since July 2018
- Google Creative Lab, Creative Lead (FL)
- March 2018 to July 2018
- Scheybeler+Company, Creative Director (FL)
- July 2017 to March 2018
- The Future Laboratory, Creative Director
- February 2013 to June 2017
- Fabrica, Creative
- October 2011 to December 2012
- Stablished & Sons, Head of Product Development
- January 2007 to September 2011
Tom Bender’s brief career history
- Wieden + Kennedy, Creative to Creative Director
- Since November 2016
- Droga5, Creative
- March 2014 to November 2016
- Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Creative
- March 2013 to March 2014
Nick Hallbery’s brief career history
- Mother, Creative to Creative Director
- Since September 2009
Cover image l-r: Nick Hallbery, Kirsty Minns, Tom Bender
