Saatchi & Saatchi has appointed James Cowie as executive creative director and promoted Piero Ruzzene to the same role.

Cowie has conquered the tough world of New York advertising. He spent nine years as an ECD at Deutsch and most recently, five years as a freelance creative before returning to Australia. Prior to his second time in New York, Cowie was group creative partner and head of copy at DDB Melbourne, where he played a key role in the revitalisation of the Coles brand at Smith St. He also contributed to a number of highly awarded campaigns across the DDB network, including Made By Dyslexia x Virgin’s DyslexicU among others. He began his career with six years at McCann in Melbourne.

Ruzzene rejoined Saatchi & Saatchi more than 11 years ago as associate creative director and has progressed through the agency to become a creative director for the last seven-and-half years. He joined the agency first early in his career, spending two years finessing his craft before moving to BMF to spend nearly five years as a creative there. His promotion to executive creative director recognises his long-standing contribution to the agency’s creative output and leadership.

The newly created ECD roles take effect immediately.