Wunderman, which recently appointed Deep Focus veteran Jamie Gutfreund as its new global CMO, also poached the top creative at RAPP to manage its teams in the U.K. and EMEA regions.
Ian Haworth has spent the last 13 years with the RAPP organization in London, serving as global CCO since the agency named him to that position in 2006 and adding the chairman title in 2007. His new role will be executive creative director for Wunderman U.K. and EMEA.
Previous positions included time spent as ECD at TBWA’s below-the-line shop TEQUILA and three years with Saatchi & Saatchi Direct New Zealand. He replaces former Wunderman CCO Matt Batten, a veteran of the Saatchi organization who left earlier this summer to launch tech start-up and “digital archaelogist” bownd along with film company Chicken Films.
Haworth has earned various industry plaudits throughout his career: Campaign Live recently named him as one of the most influential leaders in the U.K. agency world, and he has also served on the juries of Cannes Lions and most other major industry awards shows.
In a recent Q&A with To Work or Play, Haworth noted that yoga and martial arts help him deal with the intensity of the ad business.
While atop RAPP, Haworth was “responsible for setting the overall creative strategy and vision” and reportedly spent half his time in the U.K. and half in other areas, primarily the United States.
Both agencies confirmed Haworth’s move, but neither had comment on the news.
No word on how/whether Haworth and Gutfreund will work together to raise Wunderman’s profile among WPP agencies.