Enigma has appointed prominent indie creative leader, Simon Lee, to the newly created role of chief creative officer & partner, following a six-month executive search process. Lee takes the creative helm of the agency’s 80-strong team across Sydney, Newcastle, and Brisbane, as Enigma enters an ambitious new phase in its 30-year history, with the mantra, Creativity for right here, right now.
The creation of the role at the agency speaks to the clout Lee brings, with a 20+ year career leading independent agencies to creative excellence and creating dial-shifting campaigns for some of Australia’s and the world’s biggest brands. He joins from The Hallway, where Lee has been creative architect, leader and joint for more than fifteen years, helping to take the agency to the forefront of the Australian indie scene, with seven agency of the year titles and a raft of creative awards including Australia/New Zealand’s only Design Lion at Cannes in 2024. Prior to that, he was creative director at Lavender for five years. He was also producer and director of awarded docu-drama feature film, Dream Racer, and co-creator of satirical comedy, Perfect Specimen, with Hixon Films’ Alex Weinress.
Enigma founder & director Lisa Sutton Gardner, stated, “Simon’s appointment is indicative of the scale of our creative ambition and our commitment to achieving it. His breadth and depth of experience, unique creative voice and proven commercial and leadership acumen mean that our clients, and our people are in very good hands. I’m very excited about the extent of what I’m confident we’ll achieve together.”
Leeadded, “With our industry and our clients’ businesses changing at ever-increasing pace, it’s essential to keep evolving the definition of what great creativity means. This is a key factor that has attracted me to Enigma – the opportunity to shape a creative offering that’s grounded in timeless truth, but connects with the relevance of right here, right now. And as an integrated creative and media agency with a 30 year track record of delivering strong commercial outcomes for its clients, Enigma has the scale and pedigree to deliver on this. The agency feels like a tinderbox that’s primed to catch fire, and I’m excited at the prospect of helping to spark the flames.”
