Indie agency Special has made a series of group creative director appointments, promoting Max McKeon, Sian Binder, Lea Egan, Nils Eberhardt and Simon Gibson to the position.
Tom Martin, partner and CCO, said, “we couldn’t be more fortunate to not have to look overseas or even across Australia, but simply stand up and look across our old warehouse to find five amazing creative leaders.”
Binder and Egan joined the agency in 2020, Binder from her post as creative director at Clemenger BBDO, and Egan from DDB Group Australia where she was stationed as creative director across the McDonald’s account. Special won the competitive pitch for Bonds under their creative leadership.
They pair have since gone onto produce multiple campaigns for Bonds, including the Total Package campaign, as well as work for Mutti, and most recently, eBay Australia.
Eberhardt and Gibson joined Special three years ago. Eberhardt moved from Leo Burnett where he was as senior art director, and Gibson from 72andSunny in New York, first coming on board as senior copywriter.
The pair have helped launch Get Almost Almost Anything for Uber Eats, Kathmandu’s We’re Out There platform, as well as work for Pepsi Max and Virgin Australia.
Eberhardt was part of the team responsible for getting Sharon Strzlecki and Kim Kardashian together for Uber Eats, as well as Tourism New Zealand’s Good Morning World.
McKeon joined in 2021 as creative director, moving from Colenso BBDO in Auckland, New Zealand. During his time at the agency, he’s worked across Uber’s Grey Wiggle, Choose Your Own AO, and Get Almost Almost Anything campaigns, as well as Pepsi’s Tastes Better With… platform.
Prior to Special, McKeon made Tide’s It’s a Tide Ad’ campaign for the Super Bowl, DB Export’s I’m Drinking it for you, as well as Pedigree’s Take a Baby Step into Parenting, earning a D&AD Black Pencil, Cannes Titanium Lions, and an Emmy nomination.
Special partner and CCO, Jules Schreiber, added: “This crew is some of the best and brightest that our industry has to offer, so we are damn proud to be able to offer them the opportunity to not only do great work, but to lead and let others at Special learn from their creative leadership.”
Last week, Special rolled out the latest phase of Virgin Australia’s Bring on Wonderful brand platform, first introduced by the agency in 2022.
See also: Virgin and Special launch next chapter of ‘Bring on Wonderful’
–
Top Image (L-R): Sian Binder, Max McKeon, Nils Ederhardt, Lea Egan and Simon Gibson