DDB Group Sydney welcomes two creative teams from Ogilvy – Dantie van der Merwe and David Fraser + Omid Amidi and Luke Acret

July 19 2012, 12:43 pm | BY Lynchy | 20 Comments

DDB Creative Duos.jpgDDB Group Sydney has today announced the arrival of two creative duos from Ogilvy – Dantie van der Merwe and David Fraser from Johannesburg, plus Omid Amidi and Luke Acret from Sydney.

Having joined DDB Group Sydney earlier this year, van der Merwe and Fraser originate from Ogilvy Johannesburg, where they worked on global brands including Audi, Sprite, ESPN and the Discovery Channel.

Fraser and van der Merwe have both had multiple campaigns shortlisted at Cannes. van der Merwe’s work for DSTV has also been featured on Shots as well as making finalist for multiple Cannes awards and a London International award. In addition, Fraser won a bronze Clio for a BBC Food print campaign and his History Channel print campaign won ‘in book’ at the One Show.

Acret and Amidi teamed up at Ogilvy Sydney, where they worked on some of the standout campaigns of 2011 including the popular ‘Share a Coke’ campaign which picked up a Gold, Silver and 5 Bronzes at this year’s Cannes Lions. Before teaming up, Amidi spent time at droga5 and has had his work for VB, Cascade and Coke be recognised in IAB, Caxtons, Clio, One Show, D&AD and Cannes. Prior to moving to Australia, he was based in Toronto where he won the 2009 YoungGuns International Creative Brief.

Acret, whose background is as a professional baseball pitcher, began as an Art Director for 303 and Lavender, working on campaigns for Ikea, Westpac, Harley Davidson, Fanta, Colgate, KFC, Rugby Union Australia, and Qantas. Acret has had his campaigns awarded at Young Lions, Clio, One Show, D&AD and Cannes.

Says Dylan Harrison, DDB Group Sydney’s executive creative director: “Both Dantie and David, as well as Omid and Luke have made a huge impact in the creative department since their arrival. Not only because of the passion and genius they’ve been putting into their creative output, but also the culture here. They’re both the embodiment of DDB’s hiring policy of ‘talented and nice.”

The duos have been recruited by DDB Group Sydney as the team continues to grow and to help fill the shoes of Matthew Knapp and John Downing, who recently moved to DDB New York as part of DDB’s ongoing commitment to helping launch young careers.

(Pictured top, from left: Luke Acret, Omid Amidi, David Fraser and Dantie van der Merwe)