AWARD has announced the chair and daily co-chairs for the 2019 Creative Leadership Course, taking place from Sunday April 14 until Tuesday April 16, 2019 at Sydney's Ovolo Hotel.
2019 CHAIR
WARREN BROWN, PARTNER, GUTTHINK & PARTNERS
In 1980 at the age of 22 Warren travelled to London to forge a career in advertising, he didn’t know anyone and there was no job waiting.
By the age of 25 he had won Commercial of the Year and Poster of the Year and was the most awarded creative in London for his work on brands such as Foster’s and Irn Bru.
After a successful stint in London Warren returned to Australia in ’93 to the Campaign Palace. His first work for Australian Meat and Livestock was voted Campaign of the Year and his “I’d like to see that” campaign for the AFL became part of the Australian vernacular overnight.
In two years he had won virtually every Australian advertising award including those for advertising effectiveness.
Warren’s instincts told him the timing was right in ’96 to start his own agency, BMF. One of the first campaigns BMF produced was the world’s most successful Anti-Smoking campaign ‘Every cigarette is doing you damage’.
BMF also transformed Australian beer advertising with a wandering tongue in search of a Toohey’s Extra Dry and got Australian’s to love our Lamb, especially on Australia Day. Warren’s work also turned XXXX Gold from a regional beer brand into Australia’s #1 Beer.
BMF grew to become Australia’s largest independent agency and went on to win Agency of the Decade in ’09.
Warren’s entrepreneurial spirit hasn’t been restricted to advertising, he also was a co-creator and EP of the highly successful car show CarTorque, which produced 24 episodes for Channel 10.
Warren has been a President on many of the big international advertising award juries and has contributed to many advertising books and publications throughout his career.
Warren was also inducted to the AdNews Hall of Fame in 2016.
His instincts and entrepreneurial spirit have led him to be a co-founder of Gutthink and Partners.
2019 DAILY CO-CHAIRS
MIKE SPIRKOVSKI, CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER, SAATCHI & SAATCHI AUSTRALIA
Mike is Chief Creative Officer of Saatchi & Saatchi Australia. He sits on the Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide Creative Board and Worldwide Toyota Creative Leadership Team. Recently, he was appointed Chairman of AWARD.
Mike’s career spans 17 years in the industry, where he has lead some of the top Agencies in Australia. Under his creative leadership, Saatchi & Saatchi was awarded Australia’s best Campaign of the Year at AdNews, followed up by best car ad worldwide at One Show Automotive and opened Saatchi & Saatchi in Melbourne.
In 2016, Saatchi & Saatchi was awarded back-to-back Gold at Cannes and Australia’s only prestigious Innovation Lion, making them the only agency in the world to have won 2 consecutive Innovation Lions.
At D&AD 2017, Saatchi & Saatchi was the second most awarded Australian agency. This was followed by winning Grand Prix at the WARC Innovation Awards.
Mike’s proudest moment was earning the rare Cannes Titanium Lion for Earth Hour initiative, which was cited in the Gunn Report as “best 360 campaign ever” now a globally recognised brand with billions of supporters worldwide.
TARA FORD, EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR, DDB SYDNEY
Tara Ford is the Executive Creative Director at DDB, Sydney and Board Member of the Communications Council Australia.
She has worked at some of the most creative agencies around the world. Her experience ranges from cars, banks and politics to fashion, alcohol and gaming, and everything in between. Brands include PlayStation, Nike, McDonalds, Virgin, Absolut, ANZ Bank and VW to name a few.
Her work has been consistently recognised throughout her career, at every major international award show, on a range of clients and disciplines. This includes her GAYTM campaign for ANZ Bank which won a Cannes Grand Prix (amongst others) and was also named the ‘Best Direct campaign in the World for 2014’ by the Big Won and #1 ‘Best of Print/Outdoor/Design for 2014’ by Creativity-online.com
Tara has also judged and chaired many award shows including Cannes, D&AD, Clios, Spikes, APAC Effies, New York Festivals, AWARD Award (Aus), Adfest (Asia), AADC (Aus), Women in Media Awards (Aus), AdNews (Aus) and the Creative Circle (UK).
She has been an active mentor to young creative talent through the Cannes 'See It Be It' and young Lions Program, RMIT student program, Miami Ad School and AWARD School.
And she was a panelist at the inaugural 3% Conference Australasia.
In between this, Tara raises her four boys.
SCOTT NOWELL, CO-FOUNDER, CCO AT THE MONKEYS; DIRECTOR MAUD DESIGN
Scott started The Monkeys with Mark Green and Justin Drape in June 2006. In 2012 Scott, Mark and Justin also started design company Maud along with David Park. In twelve short years they’ve grown from three founders to over 170+ employees.
Scott has judged numerous award shows including Cannes Lions, Clio, AWARD, MADC, Caxtons, Cannes Young Lions and has been a keynote speaker at the Caxtons, Semi-Permanent - the world’s biggest design conference - and AWARD. The Monkeys have won over 200 creative awards at every major award show.
Scott has written and directed award winning short films, documentaries, web and television series, including teaming with Andrew Denton’s Zapruder’s Other Films to create, write and produce the critically acclaimed comedy drama :30 Seconds, nominated in the 2010 Logies, the AFI Awards and The Australian Writers Guild Awards. Scott has written and produced long-form brand-funded content for major brands such as Telstra and Ubank, and script edited and produced the ABC Documentary Art Irritates Life on the story of cult art movement and surf brand Mambo.
Scott is an integral part of the The Monkeys’ success, having helped Australia’s biggest brands grow and succeed with campaigns for the likes of Telstra, Parmalat, Ubank, IGA, Ice Break, Oak, Blackmores and award-winning campaigns for MLA’s Australia Day and diversity work.
Now at 13 years old, The Monkeys has captured the imagination of the Australian advertising industry. In 2018 alone, The Monkeys was named B&T Agency of the Year, B&T Advertising Agency of the Year, Campaign Asia Australian Creative Agency of the Year and Mumbrella Creative Agency of the Year. In 2017, The Monkeys was named Mumbrella Asia APAC Creative Agency of the Year, Campaign Asia Australian Creative Agency of the Year, Campaign Brief Australian Agency of the Year and B&T NSW Agency of the Year. In 2016, the agency was named Effective Agency of the Year at the Australian Effie Awards and also picked up the coveted 'Grand Effie' for Meat & Livestock Australia's 'Operation Boomerang'.
For registration information, please call Simone on 0417 776 321. To discuss corporate membership, visit communicationscouncil.org.au or email Prue Tehan on prue@communicationscouncil.org.au.
2019 COURSE FULLY BOOKED
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