Gavin McLeod heads to AKQA as executive creative director
AKQA, a digital agency that has work with companies from Audi to Levi's amongst its roster of clients, has appointed Gavin McLeod as the executive creative director of AKQA’s San Francisco office.
Gavin McLeod heads to AKQA as executive creative director / Courtesy of AKQA
McLeod, who has over 20 years in creative roles, joins the AKQA team from Sydney where he has been recognized for his work with industry awards such as the Cannes Lions, Clios and Ad Age’s D&AD.
“Gavin will manage the entire creative discipline at AKQA's San Francisco office and will also lead the Future Academy program that champions the next generation of talent and provides opportunities to work across all aspects of the business from our San Francisco office,” said Simon Jefferson, managing director of AKQA’s San Francisco office, exclusively to The Drum. “He will also be part of AKQA’s Global Creative Council.”
McLeod comes to AKQA from Sydney’s R/GA where he was the executive creative director and one of the founding partners.
“Gavin is smart, hungry and humble and knows the amount of effort it requires to create genre-defining work,” Jefferson said. “As well as being a great creative leader, Gavin is highly collaborative, meaning he’ll be able to partner with our business strategy, technology, data science and UX teams to develop new and innovative experiences that inspire customers and create differentiation for brands.”
Previously, McLeod was creative director at Whybin\TBWA and at M&C Saatchi as executive creative director in digital and direct.
“I’ve admired the work that AKQA has been doing for many years,” McLeod said. “As a company, they’ve always struck me as being fearless in pushing the boundaries.”