Colenso BBDO Auckland snares ex-GPY&R Melbourne copywriter Matt Lawson

Colenso BBDO has added to its pool of world-class creative talent with the arrival of leading Australian copywriter Matt Lawson from George Patterson Y&R Melbourne.

At Cannes 2012, Lawson was the most awarded Australian copywriter, placing him ninth in the world in the official Cannes ranking. Recently his Mobile Medic campaign won Idea of the year for the Global Y&R network and helped GPYR Melbourne become the most awarded Y&R agency worldwide. His work for Telstra Bigpond has been voted ‘Australia’s favourite ad’ in The Age newspaper, and is ranked No. 2 in Campaign Brief’s ‘Ads of the decade’.

Lawson was planning on heading back to France when Colenso got wind of his availability.

Says Nick Worthington, creative chairman, Colenso BBDO: “We’re extremely lucky to have Matt Lawson join us at Colenso, his plan was to move from Melbourne to Paris, happily we managed to persuade him to change his plans and come to Auckland.”

For Lawson it was Colenso’s ability to make campaigns that push the boundaries that was the deciding factor.

Says Lawson: “Colenso seem to pull off amazing stuff pretty often. I mean, ideas are pretty worthless until they’re done, and Colenso seem to find a way to do them consistently. It’s a little scary actually. I’m going to have to pull my socks up.”

Says Nick Garrett, Colenso’s managing director: “We’re really excited about hiring Matt, because he is one of the best in the region and the added bonus is he’s a bloody good bloke. Matt and I worked together many years ago when we were at BMF and his quality even then as a junior shone through.”