The Monkeys expand creative leadership hiring Vince Laguna as ECD

At Leo Burnett, Lagana worked on award-winning campaigns such as Coca-Cola Small World Machines, Bundaberg Rum’s Road to Recovery and Samsung’s LifeLIVE.

Prior to joining Leo Burnett, he was associate creative director at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco, and creative group head at Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney, where he also previously worked with The Monkeys founders.

Lagana said of his new role: “It’s time for me to follow a fresh path and I’m excited to be joining one of the best and most progressive advertising brands in the country. I have a huge amount of respect for what The Monkeys has achieved and I can’t wait to help lead and drive its creative product even further into the future.”

“I’m incredible grateful for my time at Leo Burnett. The culture and people is what makes the place truly unique and the support I’ve been shown over the years from Mark Tutssel and the Australian management team has helped me grow as a creative leader. I leave Leo’s knowing the future is bright and under the creative leadership of Grant McAloon, the agency will continue to thrive.”

The Monkeys cofounder and group chief creative officer, Justin Drape said: “Vinnie’s a talented leader and a true gentleman. He makes the people around him better so he will be an integral part of our plans moving forward and Scott Nowell, Mark Green and I are all looking forward to working with him again, having done so many moons ago before starting The Monkeys.”

Leo Burnett Australia chief executive Melinda Geertz said in a statement: “Vinnie has been with Leo Burnett for six years, and in that time, he’s been prolific, helping us create some of our most award-winning, world-class work. We’re grateful for his love of creativity, his passion for brilliant ideas and his incredible dedication to design and craft. We’re also grateful for his friendship. Vinnie is a person with decency, generosity and kindness in abundance, and we’ll miss him.”

Lagana’s departure follows just weeks after Leo Burnett Sydney chief executive Pete Bosilkovski left the agency.

Lagana adds to the creative firepower at The Monkeys, last October the agency hired former Clemenger BBDO Melbourne chief creative officer Ant Keogh to lead its Melbourne agency. Keogh was recently named the most awarded chief creative officer of 2017, according to The Drum’s Directory Big Won Rankings.