Jason Lonsdale, executive planning director of Saatchi & Saatchi Australia will be leaving Saatchi & Saatchi at the end of October to pursue a new opportunity in NYC.
Lonsdale said, “When I arrived here with Mike Rebelo four years ago, it was fair to say that Saatchi & Saatchi was a bit of a ‘fixer-upper’, and we’ve been lucky enough to have a great team putting in the hard yards to turn it around.
“I’m extremely proud of where Saatchi & Saatchi Australia has got to – an agency capable of creating campaigns such as ‘Penny the Pirate’ and HiLux ‘Unbreakable’.”
“Four years ago Jason took up my invitation to join Saatchi & Saatchi. I knew after working with Jase in London that he was exactly what we needed to repurpose the agency,” Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Michael Rebelo added. “I genuinely feel indebted to what Jason has brought to our business and our culture during this time.”
Lonsdale will also be leaving his post as Account Planning Group (APG) chair, a position he has held since March. Replacing him will be executive planning director of J Walter Thompson Australia, Angela Morris.
Morris brings a wealth of local and international experience having built her career in London before moving to Australia where she now leads strategy planning across across J Walter Thompson’s Sydney, Melbourne and Perth offices.
A passionate supporter of planning in Australia, Morris has held a position on the APG Committee for the past four years, recently taking on the role of vice-chair of the APG as well as Chair of Judging in this year’s APG Planning Idol Competition which will announce its winner on Thursday 12 November.
“I am delighted to be appointed Chair,” Morris said.
“The APG plays an important role in ensuring Australia’s planning talent continues to develop and adapt in line with the needs of our industry – from providing the latest local and international learnings through our annual events calendar, to inspiring creative thinking through the APG Battle of Big Thinking, and our biannual Creative Strategy Awards and Planning Idol competition.”
