Former Saatchi & Saatchi NZ ceo Nicky Bell has been appointed to a senior vice president/managing director role at R/GA Los Angeles.
Bell spent six years at Saatchi before leaving suddenly in March, replaced general manager Paul Wilson who was promoted to MD. Prior to Saatchi, Bell had 18 years at Ogilvy, the first seven in Sydney followed by 11 in New York.
At R/GA LA Bell will report to R/GA US president Sean Lyons. “Nicky is a proven leader,” he said. “She’s transformed cultures, refocused and realigned agency capabilities, and contributed to significant growth of client businesses.
“R/GA has big plans for its Los Angeles office and Nicky is exactly the right person to deliver on them.”
Nicky Bell said: “I am thrilled to be joining R/GA. With technology changing consumer behaviour faster than ever, the RG/A Los Angeles team is perfectly positioned to reimagine the role of technology in the art of storytelling. They are a hugely talented, progressive thinking team. It’s good to be here.”
Japan beckons
Peter Grasse, the former GM/executive producer of Transtasman production company Curious Film, has opened a new Tokyo-based production company, Dictionary Films, and started his new gig with the launch of a new spot Nike via Wieden + Kennedy Tokyo.
“Change is as good as a holiday,” Grasse said. “But, I didn’t need a holiday. Rather, I craved creative rewards as a result of honest hard work with talented people I respect and enjoy.”
Grasse is one of the world’s top commercial production executives. He joined Curious NZ in 2004, then established Curious Sydney in 2006 and Curious Singapore in 2013.
With Grasse at the helm, Curious has won two Cannes Gold Lions, two D&AD Yellow Pencils, and was named Asia-Pacific Production Company of the Year at Ciclope for the past three years.
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