Dentsumcgarrybowen nabs A&E/DDB's Simon Lloyd as UK creative chief

Dentsumcgarrybowen has hired Adam & Eve/DDB global creative director Simon Lloyd as UK chief creative officer. 

Lloyd will start in two weeks and report to chief executive Gareth Collins.

Angus Macadam, former ECD of the agency, left in August.

The appointment completes the UK leadership team at DentsuMB (formerly known as Mcgarrybowen). Lloyd will work alongside Collins, who moved from Leo Burnett and Fallon last year; chief strategy officer Sophie Lewis, who left the same role at VMLY&R London at the start of 2020; and Barratt Mistry, who joined last month as head of project management from FCB Inferno.

Lloyd will run a creative department of about 30 people. He will also collaborate with other creative leaders across Dentsu’s UK and Ireland creative group, such as Simon Gill, Isobar’s EMEA chief experience officer and UK and Ireland CCO, and Matt Potter, chief content officer of John Brown Media.

Over the past decade, Lloyd has worked at Adam & Eve/DDB on global accounts such as Lipton, Aviva, Carte D'or and Sunsil. Last year, he created the joint Christmas campaign for John Lewis & Partners and Waitrose & Partners “Excitable Edgar”. 

Earlier in his career, he worked at digital agency Glue, with clients such as Mini and Virgin. 

Lloyd told Campaign: “The future generation of creatives is coming up with non-linear answers to problems. That to me is what the future of creativity looks like. 

“I’m really keen to find creatives who work in different ways and have work in different shapes. That’s what I want the future of the agency to be.” 

In May, Dentsu International (previously known as Dentsu Aegis Network) combined all its non-Japanese creative businesses into one global company called Dentsumcgarrybowen. 

In the UK, Dentsu’s creative businesses include brand advertising agency DentsuMB; digital experience agency Isobar; content shop John Brown; entertainment company The Story Lab; influencer marketing and digital talent agency Gleam; and experiential and sports marketing shop MKTG. 

James Morris, executive director, creative at Dentsu UK and Ireland, oversees the creative businesses. 

He added: “We are scaling our creative offering at Dentsu in the UK and investing in the best diverse creative talent in Simon and Barratt. With no silos across Dentsu and our deep expertise across the customer journey, we are uniquely positioned to deliver a contemporary creative offering for our clients at a time when it has never been more mission critical.”