Wes Hawes is ending four years as ECD of Innocean Australia to become CCO at 72andSunny Australia, following the departures of ANZ creative lead, Genevieve Hoey and ECD, Scott McClelland earlier this year.

Ross Berthinussen, president of 72andSunny ANZ, commented, “We are thrilled that Wez is joining Laura, myself and the 72andSunny team in ANZ as chief creative officer, ANZ. Our founding belief is a belief in Optimism, in finding opportunity in any challenge, and Wez is the embodiment of that ethos. Over the last few years we have experienced incredible momentum and are looking forward to how he can help us build on that by fostering our collaborative, creative culture and delivering what we get out of bed for every day, radical, culturally led ideas that grow our client partners’ brands and business.”

At Innocean, Hawes led the creative output of the 110-people agency for clients such as Hyundai, Kia, No Ugly, White Ribbon and AMCS (Australian Marine Conservation Society), and guided it to In win the industry’s first ever Aria award in 2023 for the Voice of the Sea project for the AMCS, following on from being crowned Shots APAC Agency of the Year in 2022 and the Kia Tasman campaign featuring Australia’s most iconic sporting legends.

His wide creative range includes creating a global space academy with Buzz Aldrin to help the sexual prowess of teenage boys, and creating a capsule collection with Kenzo to help save the wild tigers. He has won Cannes Lions across every main category, including Health.

Innocean CEO, Jasmin Bedir, commented, “Wez and I had four amazing years together as a team. He is a lovely human, and we’ll of course miss him, but change is inevitable. We will make an announcement on our new creative leadership in due course.”

Before joining Innocean, Hawes Wez was ECD of CHEP Sydney, helping the agency to almost doubled in size in both revenue and people. CHEP’was Spikes Asia’s APAC Agency of the Year 2021, AWARD Australia’s Agency of the Year 2021, ranked the 3rd most effective agency in the world (WARC), the 9th most creative (The Drum), Mumbrella’s Creative Agency of the Year 2019, and was awarded The Best and Bravest Agency on the Planet four years in a row (Contagious Pioneers 2018-2021).

Prior to this, Hawes was ECD at Marcel Sydney and his formative career years were spent at BBH London, under the tutelage of creative stars such as Sir John Hegarty, and rising to become partner and creative director on the global Axe/Lynx and Mentos/Vigorsol during an eight year stint.

Hawes is also co-creator of Fck The Cupcakes, a gender equality organisation and brand started within the Innocean offices working to bring men into the equality conversation. He also co-founded loveour.work, an initiative and industry charter designed to improve ‘creative feedback’ and raise editorial standards.

Hawes has not yet indicated what’s next in his career.