Saatchi & Saatchi has hired one of Australia’s top strategy leaders, Leif Stromnes, to shape the agency’s future strategic vision, B&T can reveal.
Stromnes, who left DDB Group in July, fills a void left by the departure of Rachel Walker, who left Saatchis to relocate back to her native UK.
At Saatchis, he will lead a team of senior strategists in Melbourne and Sydney, working on strategies that deliver measurable growth and impact for clients.
Stromnes, who begins his new role in January, will work alongside chief creative officers Mandie van der Merwe and Avish Gordhan in championing innovation in planning and the application of AI.
“I’ve been a massive admirer of Saatchi & Saatchi since 1999 when I moved to Australia and their ‘Nothing Is Impossible’ is such brilliant, enduring creative culture,” Stromnes said.
“The way Saatchis has used creativity to parlay into a great effectiveness culture is very appealing to me. That’s kind of what makes us get out of bed in the morning.
“The other thing that really appeals to me is the Publicis Power of One. We have the power of Publicis, Epsilon, Digitas, the media agencies. In the modern world clients need everything on the table to drive growth and that feels intoxicating.”
Stromnes is an award-winning strategy leader with more than 30 years’ experience across South Africa, Australia, Asia and the US.
A founding member of the Effies Awards, Stromnes most recently worked at DDB Group for 25 years, where he rose through the ranks from head of strategic planning to CSO and later group managing director of strategy and innovation.
He has shaped strategies for some of the world’s leading brands, including Unilever, McDonald’s, Arnott’s, Tourism Australia, Westpac, Virgin Airlines, Volkswagen, Coles, Mars, Kmart and Telstra.
He joins an agency that has had one of its best growth years for a decade, recently picking up new clients including Yourfoodz and 13Cabs, while also working with Toyota, Arnott’s, Heineken, Nescafe and Cancer Council Australia.
Saatchi & Saatchi Australia chief executive Patrick Rowe told B&T that the agency interviewed a number of candidates but Stromnes was a standout because he “captured what we’re about as an agency more than anybody else” and was “hungry to continue the Saatchi’s legacy”.
“There’s so much happening in the industry right now. We needed somebody who had lots of experience, gravitas and understood the complexities of what a lot of clients and the industry is dealing with at the moment,” Rowe said.
“Leif has got such a fantastic reputation, he’s got so much experience and his track record is amazing. We have won eight Aussie Effies in the past year and Leif’s responsibility is to really drive that culture of effectiveness; we think he is the right person to lead that.”
Saatchi & Saatchi said that Stromnes’ appointment reflects the agency’s significant investment in its strategic offering, following a year of award wins, with eight Australian Effie Awards including the prestigious Colin Wilson-Brown award.
His remit will see him have a leadership role in New Zealand, partnering with Saatchi & Saatchi NZ’s executive strategy director Tim Cullihane and team.
“I think the moment of the strategist has really arrived. With intelligent technologies and the opportunities that allow us to think in multiple dimensions, I think possibility for clients is a reality now like never before,” Stromnes added. “We have the firepower to turn great strategy into momentum and help clients find growth in a difficult climate.”
“Saatchi is to make possibility a reality, to find bigger possibilities, and then to help clients, you know, chart the path to that possibility with predictability and with certainty and with great credit, the kind of fire power to turn strategy into momentum.”
Stromnes is a regular columnist for B&T.
