DDB Sydney’s Tara Ford has joined The Monkeys as its new chief creative officer for the agency’s Sydney office.
The shock news comes after The Monkey’s co-founder, Justin Drape’s sudden departure announced 10 days ago.
Ford had been at the Omnicom-owned DDB as CCO for just over three-and-a-half years and produced award-winning work across a range of the agency’s blue chip clients including Westpac, Volkswagen and McDonalds.
L-R: Scott Nowell, Tara Ford, Mark Green
Ant Keogh remains the agency’s CCO for The Monkeys’ Melbourne office.
The Monkeys has been rapidly expanding since its acquisition by Accenture Interactive and after picking up a slate of new clients last year, including Audi, Tourism WA and the Super Retail Group.
Ford said: “I’m excited to be joining one of the best and most progressive advertising brands in the country. I have a huge amount of respect for what The Monkeys has achieved and I can’t wait to help lead and drive its creative product even further into the future.”
Mark Green, lead Accenture Interactive ANZ and Group CEO of The Monkeys, said Ford has been “prolific” throughout her career.
“Tara is one of the most outstanding creative leaders in ANZ and this has been recognised far and wide. Notably, Tara was named Creative Person of The Year at the 2020 Campaign Asia Awards.
“Besides that, Tara is a great personality and we are extremely pleased to welcome her to the team.”
The Monkeys Co-Founder and national group CCO, Scott Nowell, said the founders are looking forward to working with Ford having admired her work from afar.
“Tara is an immense talent who makes the people around her better. We love her work, love how she goes about it, and look forward to seeing her bring that to The Monkeys,” he said.
Commenting of Ford’s departure, DDB Sydney’s CCO Ben Welsh added: “Tara is an exceptional creative and a natural leader. We thank her for everything she’s done during her time at DDB and we wish her all the best in her new role.”
