The agency’s CEO Dani Bassil tells B&T she didn’t want just another CCO who is a gun at above the line work. Flores brings a broad skill set working at “the intersection of brand, entertainment and culture” as well as round out creative leadership team with diversity in its DNA.
Clemenger BBDO has appointed Mexican-born Aussie creative leader Adrián Flores to lead its creative output.
Flores specialises in creating work at the intersection of brand, entertainment and culture, with board experience across brand advertising, social media, experiential and multiple digital touch points.
Bassil told B&T that he is “a very rare breed” of creative because he specialises in connecting brands to audiences wherever they shop, which is increasingly in digital and live experience spaces rather than above the line advertising.
“I didn’t just want to hire another advertising chief creative officer that is just above the line advertising, we are looking for leaders that can take us into the future,” she said.
“Aside from being a really cool guy and wonderful human, creative seeps out of every poor and fibre in his body. He thinks about creativity as not just a fine art of film that wins awards, but is very much about the audience, where they are, what they are interested in and how to communicate with them in different ways. He is a modern creative thinker that speaks to multiple audiences.”
Flores is also Mexican born and raised in Toowoomba, with experience working abroad. So, too, is Bassil, and new chief strategy officer Simon Wassef – three “immigrant kids” running one of Australia’s top creative agencies.
This diversity of backgrounds and thinking is important, argues Bassil, because the creative industry is still, “full of white middle class people at leadership levels”.
She added: “When I grew up I didn’t see anyone who looked like me at a leadership level.
“We just don’t talk to one audience when trying to convince them to buy products and change behaviour. It’s important to have that diverse thinking and we pick the right people for the job but also with an eye on changing the culture. This organisation has to be a place where people from different backgrounds and with diversity of thinking are able to succeed.”
Flores joins from New York-based brand consultancy Robot, which is part of The SpringHill Company co-founded by basketball legend LeBron James and his business partner Mav Carter.
He returns to Australia after more than a decade in creative leadership roles internationally, at agencies including Publicis New York and London, FCB New York, Marcel New York, and VaynerMedia.
“Clems is iconic both at home and abroad for a reason. I’m extremely excited to be part of its next chapter alongside a truly world-class team that’s famous for making famous work,” Flores said.
His hire marks the next stage of Clemenger BBDO’s evolution and builds on a string of senior hires made following CEO Dani Bassil’s return to Australia to lead the agency’s transformation in 2023. Her appointment of Simon Wassef as Chief Strategy and Experience Officer broadened the agency’s strategic capabilities to include CX, connections and cultural design strategy.
The arrival of Anita Zanesco as Chief Growth Officer responsible for new capabilities and growth, and Anita Deutsch-Burley and Georgie Winton as Managing Partners, added more key pillars to drive the evolution.
