Ogilvy Melbourne added substantial firepower to its creative department with seven new hires.

Highly awarded copywriter, Oli Brock, joins with art director partner, Eli Swart. Their collective experience includes working at Clemenger BBDO, Cummins&Partners, VMLY&R and most recently, Leo Burnett, where the pair reunited after working together at Isobar seven years ago. Together they have worked on Australian Defence Force, CUB, Kraft Heinz, Jeep, Mars, NAB, Specsavers and 7-Eleven. Brock’s work on Monash University’s A Future Without Change campaign during his time at VMLY&R was recently recognised with a Gold Lion at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

Creative duo, Isabel Gomes Brand and Omar Fawahl, join from BWM Dentsu, where they’ve spent the last three years working together for brands including Kmart, L’Oreal and Toyota. Both bring experience from stints in film production before working at Cummins&Partners, M&C Saatchi and Wunderman NYC.

Young gun team, John Barrett and Liam Ratliff, join from M&C Saatchi. Both are RMIT graduates, who excelled in AWARD School in 2019 (Ratcliff) and 2020 (Barrett), and gained valuable work experience at Tennis Australia and BBE Creative. Barrett was one of only fifty Pencil winners worldwide to be invited to the D&AD New Blood Academy in London in 2018.

Art director, Katelyn Testa, joins the team to partner with Ogilvy’s copywriter, Ted Brearley. Katelyn’s career began at Leo Burnett in Melbourne seven years ago and was followed by stints at VMLY&R, Publicis and Ikon. She has produced award-winning work for Breaka Flavoured Milk, Queensland Government, SPC Ardmona and the Tatts Group.

David Ponce de Leon, executive creative director of Ogilvy Australia, Melbourne, stated, “I’m tremendously excited to welcome such a big bunch of talented creatives to Ogilvy. Our creative department keeps growing and evolving, with the right talent, skill sets and drive. This remains paramount to us, our culture and of course, our clients. I’m certain this group can bring a global perspective and fresh thinking to all of our work, while managing to have heaps of fun in the process.”

“Ogilvy’s goal is to continue to assemble the most impressive and diverse creative talent pool and to make this our biggest point of difference,” added Gavin MacMillan, MANAGING DIRECTOR, Ogilvy Australia, Melbourne. “These creative additions reflect our ambition and are the first of a range of new appointments across our office including strategy and account service. Watch this space.”

“I would’ve have preferred a talent group shot in our reception, alas, we are amid another Melbourne lockdown. This might be a cruel reminder to update their LinkedIn profile pics, but at least is not another Microsoft Teams mosaic screenshot,” Ponce de León added.