Former 303 MullenLowe Sydney ECD Gary McCreadie joins Special Group NZ as ECD

| | No Comments
Former 303 MullenLowe Sydney ECD Gary McCreadie joins Special Group NZ as ECD

Special Group has announced the appointment of Gary McCreadie as executive creative director.

 

McCreadie was previously executive creative director at 303 MullenLowe Sydney, looking after Audi, Netflix, TK Maxx, Harley Davidson and Budget Direct. After 14 months in the role, it was announced that McCreadie would move to New Zealand.

McCreadie arrived in Sydney in September 2014 to join TBWA Sydney, direct from BBH London, where he was joint global creative director on the agency’s largest and most awarded accounts Lynx/Axe global and The Guardian. During his tenure, BBH held titles including Campaign ‘Agency of the Year’, British Arrows ‘Agency of the Year’ and APG ‘Agency of the Year’.

At TBWASydney he led brands including David Jones, Foxtel, MJ Bale, Virgin Mobile and AirBnB.

McCreadie has also enjoyed roles as a founding partner of Ugly Sydney.

Says Tony Bradbourne, co-founder and partner, Special Group: “We’ve been searching globally for quite some time to find someone of Gary’s world-class talent. He’s worked at brilliant agencies, produced brilliant work, run some very impressive pieces of business and is a proven great creative leader – yet he’s somehow managed to remain humble and extremely funny to boot.”

Says McCreadie: “What attracted me most to Special group was its pretty intense creative ambition. It’s just a little place but super up for it. The high level of thought and craft that has come out of there so far has set a lofty bar. It proves that the ambition is not just hot air and I’m really looking forward to the challenge.”

Says Bradbourne: “Finding someone with the right attitude and energy is very important for the culture of Special. Gary has managed to charm every one of the Special team he has met, we’ve no doubt he will have an immediate impact on both our clients’ brands and the culture of Special.”

Over the past two years Special has won Campaign Brief ‘New Zealand Agency of the Year’, been ranked by the Global Effie index as ‘#3 Independent Agency in the World’ and by Idealog as ‘New Zealand’s Most Innovative Marketing Company’.

Adds Bradbourne: “We are always looking for ways to be better, ways to improve and innovate. A big part in achieving that is making sure you stack the company with the most talented people you can find in the world.”