OFFICIAL: EASTWOOD APPOINTED DDB NATIONAL CREATIVE DIRECTOR AND VICE CHAIRMAN

Martin O’Halloran, newly appointed Chairman and CEO DDB Australia and New Zealand, today announced the appointment of Matt Eastwood (right) as National Creative Director/Vice Chairman DDB Australia. Eastwood, who will take over from Garry Horner, will be based in DDB’s Sydney office, and will oversee DDB creative product in Australia.
Eastwood joins DDB from his most recent position as Chief Creative Officer Y&R New York, where he worked on Cadbury Schweppes, Xerox, Weight Watchers and Campbell’s, among others. Originally from Australia, Eastwood has been working in New York for the past two years, as Executive Creative Director/Chairman of M&C Saatchi then as Chief Creative Officer for Y&R.
Prior to that, Eastwood spent three years in London as Executive Creative Director M&C Saatchi London. He was founding creative director at M&C Saatchi in Melbourne and worked at several agencies in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne including DDB Sydney in the early 90’s, where his creative talents were lent to McDonald’s, SC Johnson and Hasbro.
Says O'Halloran: “Matt is a fantastic talent. I’m delighted to announce his appointment as National Creative Director for DDB Australia. I think DDB is extremely lucky to have such an accomplished, awarded creative join the team, bringing both Australian and international experience.”
Eastwood has been Jury Chairman of a number of awards panels including Australian Television Awards, Caxton Awards, Kenyan Advertising Awards, Axis (New Zealand Print/TV Awards) and others, as well as serving as President of MADC (Melbourne Art Directors Club). His shelf is packed with awards including Cannes, One Show, D&AD, Campaign Press, AWARD and many more.
Britain’s Campaign magazine called Eastwood “one of the industry’s unicorns - a young, proven talent, capable of managing a large agency creative department.” His ability to guide an integrated agency vision across all accounts and into multiple and surprising media outlets establishes him as a star in the advertising world as a whole.
Says Eastwood: “DDB Australia is the perfect fit for me. I worked at DDB Sydney for three years in my mid twenties so I already know what a brilliant network it is. In fact, it’s probably one of the most, if not the most, creatively awarded networks in the world. And I was particularly attracted to the quality of offerings beyond advertising – PR, Direct, Interactive. These days, I just can’t do a campaign without accessing those other disciplines, so strength in those areas is important to me. My mission is to lead advertising into the brave new scary amazing world of TV-Internet-plus-all-the-gadgets-we-haven’t-thought-of-yet ‘convergence’.“
Eastwood starts at DDB Monday March 6, 2006.