Ben Coulson, one of Australia’s top creatives has left Dentsu Creative after 18 months in the role. He will be succeeded by New Zealand co-creative lead Brett Colliver, as first reported by Campaign Brief.
Colliver will step up to lead creative across the ANZ market.
His work has picked up a Black Pencil at D&AD, a Titanium and Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions, and the Grand Effie and Sustained Effectiveness award at the New Zealand Effies.
At his time at Dentsu, he’s been part of developing new brand platforms for Pizza Hut, nib and Tegel, and helped the agency win their first ever Cannes Lions for FreshChoice’s ‘Aid Aisle’ (see above). B&T understands the creative team has grown with several important hires in the past year and that Coulson and Dentsu parted on “good terms”.
“Ben has moved on from our team, and we thank him for his contribution and his passion around the craft. We wish him well for what’s next and he remains a good friend of this business,” Dentsu’s AUNZ CEO of practice and product Kirsty Muddle said.
“We are lucky we have two revered creative leaders in our region, Titanium’s, Pencils and Lion winning capability in Brett Colliver and Mike Felix. They’ve done some notable work whilst they’ve been here at dentsu over that last 24 months and Brett will step into the Creative Leadership role for Australia as an interim step.”
Coulson joined the business in late 2023, and has an illustrious career, heading up creative at HERO/McCann, Clemenger BBDO, VMLY&R, and George Patterson.
He has won silverware at the Cannes Lions, D&AD, AWARD, Effies, Campaign and, most importantly, B&T, for outstanding work, which includes iconic work for Schweppes Burst (see below) and the cheeky McWhopper campaign.
“The DC crew are great people, and good work is bubbling up across all offices and disciplines. I have learned a lot about what a properly integrated agency can do,” he said.
“Thanks to the whole team for their hard work and support, it really has been a happy home.”
