Levi Slavin of Colenso BBDO in New Zealand is replacing Ant White at independent Howatson+Company as chief creative officer.
White, who founded the company with Chris Howatson, departed last month without a public explanation. He and Howatson left CHE Proximity eight months earlier to strike out on their own.
Slavin “I am beyond thrilled to finally have the opportunity to work with Chris. He is an absolute force of nature. Chris' vision for the agency is extraordinary.
"It's the only model I've come across that will keep up with culture, the needs of brands, and return some humanity to our industry. I can't wait to return home to Australia and get started."
Howatson: “Levi is a wonderful human being first, brilliant creative second. He is renowned for his empathy, his commitment to developing his teams and building deep relationships with his clients.
"I’ve known Levi for many years – both of us having long tenures at Clemenger Group – and the opportunity to partner with him in building H+Co is a career highlight.”
Slavin’s creative reputation has been built over a 21 year career working in Australia, New Zealand, the Uk and the US.
He has won more than100 international awards across dozens of brands; including 15 Grand Prix, 35 Cannes Lions, 20 D&AD Pencils, and New Zealand’s first Black Pencil at D&AD.
When Trump was elected president, Levi moved from New York to New Zealand to run ColensoBBDO.
Before Colenso, Levi was at BBDO New York. His work on The Message — an eight episode original branded podcast — won two Gold Lions for GE. The following year, the sequel Life.af/ter won a Yellow Pencil at D&AD. Before BBDO, Levi was Global Creative Director at Anomaly NY working on Google and Diageo.
Slavin starts in January.
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