DAVIS HIRES THEOPHILAKIS AS GLOBAL CD ON UNILEVER

JWT has hired Aris Theophilakis, former group CCO at Springer & Jacoby, as a global creative director on Unilever, the WPP Group network's second-largest client after Ford.
Theophilakis, spent two years at Springer & Jacoby, whose key clients include Mercedes-Benz and Olympus. Before that, he was executive creative director for Europe at Bates in London. Earlier in his career, he was Bates' ecd for the Asian region in Singapore, working on brands such as Nokia, Heineken and Audi.
"Aris has a track record of creating big ideas for big brands across multiple markets and the media," said JWT global chief creative officer Craig Davis, to whom Theophilakis reports. "Those talents are precious."
JWT's Unilever business includes Knorr and Lipton in certain international markets and Sunsilk, Caress and Lever 2000 in the U.S. Last year, the agency lost its piece of Omo detergent outside the U.S., and in January JWT lost its share of oral care brands in Asia, Latin America and Africa to Interpublic Group's Lowe.
Said Theophilakis: "I'm doing this because it will be a tough challenge. I'm basically not a maintenance guy."