Clemenger BBDO Wellington CD Paul Nagy heads to joint ECD gig at Clemenger Sydney

CB NZ Exclusive– Clemenger BBDO Sydney has appointed Paul Nagy (left) and MikeSpirkovski (far left) as joint executive creative directors, who willstart in mid-June, replacing outgoing ECD Richard Maddocks.

CurrentlyNagy is creative director of Clemenger BBDO, Wellington, whileSpirkovski is consulting to Droga5, Sydney. The highly awarded pairreunite after a four year break – they first worked together at LeoBurnett, Sydney from 2004 until 2006.

Says Clemenger Wellington CEO and ECD Philip Andrew: “Paul was a rare find back in 2006. I could tell very quickly that he had that unique x-factor that only a few creative people have. I knew then that we wouldn’t have him forever, despite the superior fly fishing in New Zealand.

“Paul has helped us build a strong creatively-led agency here in Wellington and has been instrumental in many of our new business wins. The move to Sydney strengthens our trans-Tasman network further and I’m looking forward to making the Sydney Wellington connection an even more compelling offer for our clients.

” I’m going to miss the big man. Paul totally gets the ‘business’  of creative and he’s earned the respect of our clients because of that. Now Sydney’s clients are going to benefit from all the care and attention he lavished on ours. I can see it now, it all begins with that killer opening line, ‘Hi, my name’s Paul Nagy,  I’m ‘your’ creative director’.”

Says Nagy: “I never thought I’d ever call any place other than Sydney home, but Wellington has become home for me and my family and I will miss it always. This agency and this city will always be very special to me and I’m thrilled that staying in the network will allow me to continue working closely with Duster and Brett on our combined offer in Wellington.”

Adds Andrew: “The Clemenger Group in Wellington is in an exciting phase with Aim and Clemenger continuing to complement each other. We have done a lot of work through the past 12 months in changing our business model to meet the needs of our clients. We will be announcing a number of key appointments to 8 Kent Terrace in the very near future.”

“Paul and Mike are proven creative leaders and genuinely respect andinspire each other. The minute we met them we knew they were the rightguys,” says Andy Pontin, Clemenger BBDO, Sydney managing director.”Paul’s a Clemenger guy, and that makes an enormous difference to us.”

“We know that extraordinary outcomes creatively come from acollaborative culture, this ECD team approach should be seen asemblematic of our taking this approach to a whole new level, veryexciting,” says James McGrath, creative chairman of Clemenger BBDO.

“We’ve been mates for years and have always shared the same ideas aboutwhat makes great work and a great agency. We believe the single mostimportant step in delivering highly effective and innovative solutionsis to build a level of trust; both in client relationships and toinspire a unique culture within the agency,” says Nagy.

“When Clemenger first approached us with their plans for the future ofthe agency we were blown away. The goals are ambitious, exciting andsomething we can’t wait to get moving on,” says Spirkovski.

Spirkovski spent the early days of his career overseas, including a twoyear stint in Canada working for Palmer Jarvis DDB and TBWA. He thenmoved back to Sydney to set up his own agency before joining LeoBurnett Sydney in 2004, where he first worked with Nagy. He is currently at Droga5, Sydney.

Following their successful time together at Leo Burnett, Nagy movedover to Wellington in 2006 to join Clemenger BBDO where he waseventually made creative director in April, 2008.

Collectively the duo have won more than 200 local and internationalawards, with gold, silver and bronze results at every major award showincluding Cannes, D&AD, The One Show, Clio, and AWARD.

Key achievements include a Titanium Lion, back-to-back Goldand Silver Lions and creating one of the global Top 10 digitalcampaigns of 2009. Other career highlights for Nagy include opening and runningAWARD School in New Zealand, and being instrumental in Clemenger BBDOWellington being named the most highly awarded agency in the mosthighly awarded network at Cannes in 2007. Spirkovskiplayed a part in Publicis Mojo Sydney winning the AWARD 2009Agency of the year title.