Former Colenso BBDO planning director James Hurman takes managing director role at Y&R

Former Colenso BBDO, Auckland planning director James Hurman has been appointed managing director of Y&R, partnering with ECD Josh Moore.

Hurman has recently returned from China, where he briefly was planning partner at Ogilvy Shanghai, a role he only took back in February.

The news comes less than a week after the exit of CEO Jon Ramage.

Hurman started with Colenso as a senior planner in 2007 and was elevated to planning director in 2008. Over the course of his time at Colenso he has been involved in a range of award-winning campaigns, internationally recognised for their effectiveness and written a book (The Case for  Creativity) about the link between creativity and effectiveness.

He has been behind some of New Zealand’s best-known work including MacKenzie’s ‘Bread in the Brown Paper Bag’, Vodafone’s ‘Bestmate’ and ‘Fold’, Yellow’s ‘Treehouse’ and ‘Chocolate’, V’s ‘Rocket Pack’ and DB Export’s recent re-launch.

The Big Won report recently ranked Hurman in the top two planners in the world, testament to his remarkable track record with Colenso.

Moore says his first job as head of the re-established Y&R has been to share the leadership duties with James as his business partner.

Says Moore: “The past 12 months have been about quietly working away at Y&R, recruiting and building a very talented team. James is a major part of that journey, and we will have more to talk about soon.

“Obviously we have been keeping our clients closely informed about these changes and we have their wholehearted support. Everyone’s pumped, especially the new Y&R team.”

Says Hurman: “Opportunities to work with a brilliant creative partner and to lead an agency with so much potential don’t come up often. This is the kind of role you happily sacrifice an O.E. for.”

Moore says he has always been an absolute believer that strong strategy balanced with strong creative is the key to the best results for clients.

Says Moore: “Today we have an agency led both creatively and strategically, making the quality and effectiveness of the work central to the agency’s direction and culture.”

Hurman starts immediately.