Grey brings in four new top talents for New York office
All smiles at Grey New York, with new business wins like Gillette, as they add top hires from Anomaly, TBWA\Chiat\Day and Goodby Silverstein & Partners.
Derek Barnes and Lisa Topol (on left of picture) join as executive creative directors and will run the WPP agency’s NFL, Pringles, Downy and TBS/TNT accounts. Barnes was creative director at Anomaly on the global Budweiser account. Before that he was at Wieden + Kennedy in Portland and N.Y., working on Nike, Miller beer, Diet Coke and ESPN.
Topol comes from TBWA\Chiat\Day N.Y., where she was a group creative director on Pepsi, Bird’s Eye, Kahula and Wheat Thins. She has also worked at the New York offices of JWT, W+K and Ogilvy.
Then there are two big hires with Australian connections: Steve Wakelam and Nick Pringle (on right of picture) who have been appointed group creative directors . They will oversee Febreze, Ally and Procter & Gamble’s global corporate account.
The two earlier this year helped open Goodby’s new Manhattan office. They previously worked at DDB Sydney, producing award-winning work on Volkswagen. Wakelam is currently ranked as the No. 1 creative exec in Australia by Campaign Brief—and Pringle is No.2.
“Now’s a great time to be hiring,” said Tor Myhren, Grey N.Y. chief creative officer and president told Adweek,“We have some good momentum "
Grey creatives in New York now number 320. . When he joined Grey N.Y. in 2007, when there was just under 70 creatives.
Myhren, once a copywriter, says his focus is less on making ads and more on clients, strategy and, as Grey N.Y. president, figuring out the agency's future direction.
“There are so many good people here running things. Some of them do better work than me, so let them do it,” he said.