Wunderman Thompson Australia has appointed internationally renowned creative João Braga to lead its creative capabilities nationally.
The Brazilian creative joins Wunderman Thompson Australia as chief creative officer in January and will be based in Sydney.
As part of his role, Braga will lead all creative output from across Wunderman Thompson’s Australian offices.
“We had some incredible conversations with talent located across the globe from both inside and outside our network," Wunderman Thompson ANZ CEO Lee Leggett says.
"But we were delighted to find out one of the best global creatives already worked for Wunderman Thompson and was keen to make the move to Australia.
“We’re thrilled to have found João, a leader who knows our vision as an agency and has a brilliant ability to push beyond the traditional by using insight, data and technology to create the best pieces of work.”
Most recently Braga was the CCO for South-East Asia based out of Wunderman Thompson Thailand, where he led a team of 60 creatives.
Under Braga’s creative leadership, the Thailand office launched campaigns such as Netflix Narcos The Censor’s Cut; Sunsilk’s Hair Talk which won multiple Cannes Lion wins, including a Lion for creative effectiveness, in 2019; Thai Airways' Stay at Home Miles Exchange; and The Lonely Rambutan.
Wunderman Thompson Thailand is now recognised as one of the top three agencies globally in the WT network and the most awarded office in the APAC network; winning metal in multiple categories at Cannes, Clio, Effies, D&AD and the One Show.
“Wunderman Thompson Australia has the ambition and the right set of skills to be a real inspiration powerhouse. My job is to accelerate that. We’ll build bridges, connect different talents and capabilities, people and brands," Braga says.
"I’m just so thrilled with the opportunity to make some stellar creative work in such an iconic market and see our people and our business grow alongside some of the best, bravest clients out there.”
Wunderman Thompson APAC chief creative officer SheungYan Lo says the network is "grateful" for everything Braga has done for Wunderman Thompson Bangkok.
"He has built such an impressive creative force on the ground in just a few years. Awards, business wins, talents and morale have grown tremendously," Lo says.
"We are confident that his experience and passion will spark another exciting journey in Australia in the years to come.”
A world-class creative leader, Braga has also held a range of other senior creative roles including global creative director for Ogilvy, based in Singapore, ECD for Publicis in Portugal and several years with TBWA in Brazil.
Braga will lead a team of 54 creatives in Australia and replaces Simon Langley who departed the agency to join independent Edge.
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