DDB Sydney has appointed Alex Watts as head of social as it continues to grow its social capability.
Watts will lead the newly-formed social team for DDB Sydney with McDonald’s as its foundation client.
The agency is currently recruiting a team across strategy, creative, and production.
Watts joins the agency from Ogilvy where he was head of social for the last two years, leading its social offering across all clients.
Watts has experience leading agency teams to do the best social work in QSR, FMCG, finance and not-for-profit.
“To build a social team from scratch for DDB Sydney was a huge opportunity, and to have a brand as iconic as McDonald’s as our foundation client is incredibly exciting," Watts says.
“For my next step, I was looking to build a social capability to be a real lighthouse of the future of social work in Australia. Now more than ever brands have to be truly purposeful and there’s nowhere better to help do that than DDB.”
The new appointment follows DDB Sydney's expanded remit with McDonald's, taking social duties off VMLY&R.
DDB Sydney Managing Director Priya Patel says Watts was an important hire for the agency as it expanded its work with the fast-food chain.
"As such an important client to DDB, it was important to find the perfect person to lead the growing team," Patel says.
"Alex is both talented and nice, and we are confident he will not only deliver on McDonald’s but inspire more socially-led ideas across the entire business.”
DDB Sydney has been working with McDonald’s for 49 years.
The agency was also recently appointed to the LinkedIn account and the Coles roster alongside TBWA and Big Red.
Johnson & Johnson also consolidated its accounts within Omnicom, with a multi-disciplinary team led by DDB working across the company's entire portfolio.
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