Advertising and design agency SICKDOGWOLFMAN has appointed award-winning creative director, James Wills, following a strong 12 months that saw the Melbourne independent add a slew of new clients across both comms and design.
A senior creative leader with 20 years of experience, Wills has won at Cannes, D&AD, One Show, LIA, Spikes, Clio and AWARD. He also led the Defence Force Recruitment account at VML, winning a Gold Effie in 2025. He’s a member of RMIT University’s Advertising Industry Advisory Council, an AdSchool lecturer, and helped re-imagine the MADC after COVID as co-vice president.
Jess Wheeler, creative director, SICKDOGWOLFMAN, said: “I spent some time working with James at VML and it was the first time I’ve ever walked into a building and felt simultaneously self-conscious about the size of my beard, heaviness of my Spotify playlist, and quality of my work.”
“It’s terrifying to now consider that as a state of permanence, but I’m nonetheless excited. We spent three hours arguing over which piece of hunting vernacular to use to announce James. It ended in a stalemate, so we just went with all of them.”
Wills added: “I’ve always admired SICKDOG’s work. They live and breathe the complex art of simplicity. The work has personality and a point of view, and it’s helping their clients get noticed. I can’t wait to contribute to their momentum and add some doom-metal bangers to the agency algorithm.”
SICKDOGWOLFMAN continues its hot run after a big 2025 that saw the agency launch its own brand, SLATHER SPF, which picked up a Clio with its first piece of work. It also finished in Campaign Brief’s top ten agencies in Australia, including second on the small agency list.
The appointment of Wills marks the second senior leadership hire in recent months, following the appointment of Laura Agricola-Moss as strategy director in October.
