Dave Buonaguidi, one of St Luke’s creative directors, has quit the
agency to join Channel 4 as part of a radical marketing and advertising
initiative started by the station’s director of strategy and
development, David Brook.
Buonaguidi takes over from Ceri Evans as creative director at Channel 4,
where he will be in charge of co-ordinating all on- and off-air
marketing from a creative viewpoint.
Brook and Buonaguidi worked together when Brook was a St Luke’s client
at the Observer and the Guardian. Brook described Buonaguidi as ’a
charismatic and inspirational leader’. He said: ’Dave will bring a fresh
perspective.
I am impressed by his ability to get good work out of teams and this job
is all about harnessing the talent of our in-house creatives.’
Buonaguidi said: ’The opportunity was too mouth-watering to resist. I am
unbelievably lucky to have been involved with St Luke’s and now I get to
try something new that gives me a rush. It’s hard leaving a lifetime
project but I am impatient to get on with my new job and understand all
the things I don’t know about television.’
Channel 4 made the controversial decision of rejecting a conventional
agency this summer after it split with BMP4, signing instead the
Creative Partnership, which is best known as a film promotion
company.
Brook added: ’People often get a new lease of life from working in new
circumstances. We decided to do it differently and look outside the TV
world for a creative director. St Luke’s is a pioneer in communications
so it’s the obvious place to look.’
Buonaguidi’s job will be broader than that of his predecessors, and is
likely to include new media and print as well as on-air promotions.
Buonaguidi and his partner, Naresh Ramchandani, left HHCL & Partners in
July 1993 to become joint creative directors of Chiat Day, which later
became St Luke’s.
