Special has announced the promotion of Lisa Fedyszyn (pictured L) and Jonathan McMahon (pictured R) to CCOs of the Auckland creative agency, with founder Tony Bradbourne moving up to the position of creative chairman, CEO.
Fedyszyn and McMahon joined Special in June 2020 as executive creative directors, following a two and a half year run at Ogilvy NZ. Prior to Ogilvy NZ, the pair spent two years at Droga5 New York as associate CDs.
“Lisa and Jonno have had an incredible impact at Special over the last three years, created world-class work and results that truly live up to our promise and name,” said Bradbourne.
“Creating the most effective, popular and progressive creative work in our industry is a pretty impressive achievement. But it’s just what Lisa and Jonno do, all with their usual humbleness and humour, and their constant drive to be better”.
“Special has grown considerably over the past few years, in New Zealand and internationally, and the promotion to CCOs will allow them to take on more responsibilities in step with that growth”.
Fedyszyn was named Campaign Asia’s ‘Creative Person Of The Year’ in 2021, and McMahon taking out the title in 2022. The promotion marks a new chapter in the duo’s two-decade-long creative partnership having created highly effective campaigns in the Australian, New Zealand, and North American markets, including Droga5 New York, DDB Aotearoa, Colenso BBDO, and of course Special.
“After 21 years of working together, we are now legal to drink in the US and old enough to become CCOs. We’re extremely thankful to Tony and continue to learn from him. We are excited to continue to work closely with all our brilliant clients to produce the best work in 2024 and beyond,” said Fedyszyn.
“We love it here at Special. Tony has set up something really (looks up a thesaurus in order not to say “special”) exceptional, and we’re honoured to work with such a brilliant team and all our clients, day in, day out. We’re looking forward to continuing to take the agency and our clients from strength to strength,” said McMahon.
Special had a massive year last year, winning the Grand Prix for the third time at the B&T awards.