Clemenger BBDO Wellington and Proximity promotes Emily Beautrais and Mark Dalton

Wellington agencies Clemenger BBDO and Proximity have announced the promotion of two creatives. Emily Beautrais has been promoted to creative director at Clemenger BBDO and Mark Dalton has been promoted to creative director at Proximity.

Managing director Livia Esterhazy says businesses are looking to the group for solutions beyond just traditional advertising and communications and the senior-level promotions will help drive its redefined business focus.

Says Esterhazy: “A need to solve real-world business issues has emerged and agencies can no longer rely on just one senior creative to have the answers. We’ve promoted these two amazing leaders and thinkers to bring the type of creative fire-power required to all our clients’ businesses.”

Beautrais steps up to creative director after Brigid Alkema’s promotion to executive creative director last year.

Says Alkema: “We wanted someone with great creative instincts; someone our clients trust intuitively. Emily’s storytelling is second to none and she has huge mana within both our creative department and the wider agency.”

Beautrais’ most recent successes include the world-renowned Mistakes film for NZTA which achieved gold or grand prix awards at every major advertising show in the world, including Cannes, D&AD, One Show, New York Festivals and London International Awards. The work was also chosen as one of 12 Cases for Creativity by the Gunn Report and was included in TED Talks’ 10 Ads Worth Spreading.

Alkema says that Beautrais is renowned for her sharp and considered ideas.

Says Alkema: “She’s been recognised for 14 different pieces of work in the last five years – for effectiveness as well as creativity. Whatever the channel, Emily’s work always has a strong focus on narrative and drawing in an audience. Everyone is delighted with her appointment to the new role.”

Dalton moves from art director to creative director of Proximity following Brett Hoskin’s appointment to executive creative director.

Hoskin says Dalton is the perfect fit for Proximity’s entrepreneurial style.

Says Hoskin: “Mark is highly respected by clients and creatives alike. He understands our clients’ businesses with an impressive level of detail. That, and he knows how to lead a team and build the digital solutions that clients are demanding to lead their customer experience.”

Dalton’s work has been recognised for both creativity and results, from getting New Zealand talking about drug driving with Blazed for NZTA, to creating brand and acquisition campaigns for Toyota including FJ Cruiser Top to Bottom, 86 Hijack, and most recently the Hilux Build Your Own web tool which lets users configure their Hilux from their mobile or desktop.