Brent Choi is replacing Lance Saunders as top executive at DDB Canada.
Effective Feb. 4, Choi will become the first agency’s first CEO/CCO, overseeing creative, strategy and new business across TrackDDB, Tribal Worldwide Canada, TracyLocke and Twice. He will report to Wendy Clark, CEO of DDB Worldwide, and Ari Weiss, CCO for DDB North America.
Asked if any other appointments have been made in terms of supporting roles for Choi, a spokesperson said he will be “supported by an executive team made up of office, creative and discipline leaders from across Canada. Office and discipline leaders are all responsible for new business development.”
DDB also has executive creative directors in place across the country: Dean Lee in Vancouver; Eva Polis in Edmonton; Barb Williams in Toronto; and Sann Sava in Montreal.
Choi was most recently president of JWT’s Canadian operations and chief creative officer of global brands, splitting his time between Toronto and New York. Choi and JWT parted ways last September as the agency was undergoing a number of structural changes that culiminated in its merger with Wunderman.
Choi earned a reputation as one of Canada’s top creatives over the last decade, winning 25 Cannes Lions—including five gold (see some his creative highlights below, including the Pain Squad app for Sick Kids hospital in Toronto, and “Walls” for the BMW M1).
“In this business, it is rare to come across a standout leader who is equally wired for both the right and left sides of the brain, and with Brent’s business mastery of this combination, a new leadership era is on the horizon,” said Clark in a release.
“Brent is one of the most creative thinkers I’ve ever met. His creativity is contagious and spreads well beyond his work,” said Weiss. “It impacts the very structure of how he looks at the businesses he’s led, and we couldn’t be more excited to have him at the helm of DDB in Canada.”
The release said Saunders left the company to “pursue entrepreneurial ventures.”
– David Brown
