Firrdaus Yusoff has moved from 72andSunny’s Singapore office to Sydney to serve as the agency’s executive creative director.
Yusoff will replace Nic Buckingham as 72andSunny’s Sydney ECD when he stars on 4 January.
Buckingham joined 72 in May. He announced his departure on LinkedIn a couple of weeks ago.
Yusoff, 72andSunny said, brings close to two decades of experience spanning Singapore, London and Dubai.
Prior to joining 72andSunny, Yusoff led the creative department at Forsman & Bodenfors Singapore.
His body of work includes KAMI, the world’s first virtual influencer with Down syndrome, for Down Syndrome International; Gojek’s The Flow; and Mandarin Oriental’s Letters to Neighbours.
His work has been recognised at Cannes Lions, D&AD, The One Show, Clios, LIA and Spikes Asia, as well as appearing everywhere from CNN and Forbes to museums in New York and Paris.
In Sydney, Yusoff will lead the creative department and partner with the agency’s existing leadership team to continue building a stronger, more globally connected creative offering in Australia.
“Fi is the kind of creative leader we want more of at 72andSunny. He has incredibly high standards, with very low ego. He knows how to make ambitious work, and just as importantly, how to build the kind of in-person culture and team that makes ambitious work possible,” said Justine Armour, international chief creative officer at 72andSunny.
“Bringing him to Sydney is intentional. Australia has extraordinary creative talent, and we want to add to that a genuinely international perspective, particularly one coming from Asia. Firrdaus understands the region, he’s built one of its strongest creative departments, and he brings a different set of references, experiences and instincts into the room that will make us better.”
“Sydney has always had a creative reputation that punches well above its size, so the chance to come here and help build what’s next was hard to resist,” added Yusoff.
“I’ve loved being part of what we’ve built in Singapore and I’m excited that this move doesn’t mean leaving that behind, but making the connection between our teams in the region even stronger.”
Nikhil Panjwani has also joined 72andSunny as the ECD of its Singapore office. He was most recently regional ECD at Ogilvy Singapore.
Panjwani brings nearly two decades of experience across India and Asia Pacific. Before joining Ogilvy in 2022, he spent seven years at BBH Singapore, following earlier roles in India.
Across his career, Panjwani has created work for brands including Coca-Cola, IKEA, Absolut, Google, Guinness, Nike, Heineken, Tiger Beer and Virgin Mobile. His best-known work includes IKEA’s Human Catalogue, Absolut Together #IRL, Google’s Tanjore, Heinekicks for Heineken, The Official Unofficial History of Tiger Beer and, more recently at Ogilvy, work across The Coca-Cola Company’s portfolio including OOHA, Foodmarks and Coca-Cola’s Recipe for Magic.
His work has been recognised with more than 100 awards, including Golds at Cannes Lions, The One Show, D&AD, Clios, Webbys and LIA, as well as an ADFEST Grand Prix.
“Southeast Asia is buzzing with a restless, weird and wonderful energy, and I hope to help make 72andSunny Singapore the place where it comes to play. Making Tiger roar with partners like Jo and Ross is the perfect first brief. Build a kick-ass team, the right culture, and the work will be hard to ignore,” said Panjwani.
“Nikhil is a brilliant creative thinker with the rare ability to understand ideas that travel. He’s spent his career making ideas from Asia that can compete on a world stage, without sanding off the culture that made them interesting in the first place,” added Armour.
“He joins Singapore at exactly the right moment. With Ross, Jo and now Nikhil, we have a leadership team with a huge amount of regional and international experience, and with Tiger we have the kind of iconic global brand that gives that talent something enormous to swing at. Our ambition is to build a creative company in Singapore capable of producing the best and most influential work anywhere in the world.”
Both will take up their new roles on January 4.
