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In the three years since Aussie native Matt Eastwood joined J. Walter Thompson as global creative officer, the top creative has been on a mission to reenergise the 150 year old agency and return some of the creative clout it lost along the way.
“The work had dwindled and the importance of what we do followed. We just became about business. My challenge was to bring back the passion for creative because if you are going to be successful and competitive as an agency, you have to be the best creatively. It’s simple really. You can’t just be a good, solid business. It was my mission to spread that message,” Eastwood says.
“Turning the ship took a bit of time and I originally set out a five year plan. But last year we had the best year at Cannes and moved into the top 10 in the Gunn Report. So it felt like we were definitely starting to achieve the momentum that we want creatively, now we need to keep that going.”
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