Specialist retail and shopper marketing agency IdeaWorks has hired Andy Searles as creative lead for its Brisbane office.

Searles is a 15-year veteran in the retail, shopper and activation space. He joins IdeaWorks from his previous position as creative director of Dentsu owned, Apollo Nation in Sydney.

Phil McDonald, national managing director of Y&R Group’s IdeaWorks agency said: “We’ve had a year of sustained growth in IdeaWorks, particularly in Brisbane and Andy’s hire certainly reflects that. He brings real shopper understanding and a retail creativity and passion to the team.”

IdeaWorks Brisbane already boasts Lenard’s Chicken, Price Attack, The Coffee Club, Terry White Chemists, Suncorp Bank and Parmalat as clients and earlier in the year hired Rachael Hockaday as its Retail Strategy Director.

On his new position Searles said: “The energy and enthusiasm of the IdeaWorks team really impressed me, they are clearly on a roll and it was a great time for me to make the move and join them.”