Longtail Appoints Mark Fretten As Creative Director

Independent agency Longtail has appointed Mark Fretten as Creative Director to work across its Perth and Sydney business.

Fretten joins from Cheil London where he worked closely with Aussie expat ECD Caitlin Ryan and Global CCO, Malcolm Poynton. He joins Longtail after four years at Cheil that saw work he created win three Cannes Lions, four Lovie Awards and two Webbys, among others, helping major client Samsung to first place in the Gunn Report 2017.

Starting out at Saatchi & Saatchi and Publicis London, he enjoyed a successful five-year spell in Perth before returning to the UK to join Cheil where his focus moved to experience and innovation, exploring cutting edge VR, AR and AI and machine learning opportunities for Samsung and other brands.

Longtail fuses creative and audience science giving brands the ability to connect with consumers in relevant and interesting ways, wherever they meet them. It works with clients including Amnesty International, Kelloggs, Carsales, Discovery Networks, Australian Catholic University, Lotterywest and St John Ambulance.

Carlo Bertozzi, CEO and founder of Longtail said: “We’re excited to welcome Mark back to Australia. He’s evolved a rare and proven skill-set that has the breadth of social, pure-play digital and tech/innovation that we’ve been looking for, and he also knows the local landscape.”

Fretten added: “I’ve been thinking about a move back to Australia for a while now and talking to Carlo, it was clear we shared a similar vision and ambition.

“As clients look for ever more personalised engagements with their customers, they’re demanding more than just campaign-based marketing from their agencies. With the structure and capability already in place to blend front-end marketing comms seamlessly with back-end technology and data-driven insight, Longtail are uniquely qualified to deliver these engagements. I can’t wait to get started.”

Malcolm Poynton, global chief creative officer at Cheil Worldwide said: “Mark is one of the few that gets how to connect the dots between ideas and all the new-fangled things digital and its data hosepipe have to offer.”

Fretten is a member of D&AD, One Show and IADAS, and is currently judging this year’s Webbys.

He joins Longtail at the beginning of April.

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