Havas Worldwide Australia ECD Steve Coll named Havas Creative Group ‘Person of the Year’

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Steve Coll jpeg.jpgIn a boost to the growing reputation of the Havas agencies in Australia, ECD Steve Coll has been awarded the title of Havas Creative Group ‘Person of the Year’ at the Havas Group’s global leadership meeting in New York.

The Havas Group, which spans multiple agencies in the global Havas Creative and Havas Media Groups, gives the award annually and this is the first time it has ever been awarded to a member from the Australian offices.

 

Says Coll: “This is a special award to receive. But anyone who works with us knows we are a tight-knit management team, and it’s very much a case of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. The goal for Ant, Phil, Alex and myself has always been to turn the agency’s creative reputation around in the belief that business would follow, which has been the case.”

Says Anthony Gregorio, Havas Worldwide Australia CEO: “The work produced by Steve and his creative department has created real momentum around the agency over the past few years. The emphasis on true integration has helped us attract some wonderful talent, and fantastic clients. Now, with the addition of Havas Media, I believe we are starting to develop a truly outstanding offering.”

 

Says Andrew Benett, Havas Worldwide Global CEO: “Collaboration is the focus for the Worldwide Havas Group, and the entire management in Sydney exemplify that in the way they work. Australia is now rivaling some of the bigger, established agencies in the network, which is an excellent achievement.”

 

Coll was appointed ECD in November 2010. He and his team won the agency’s first ever Cannes Lions in 2012, and Havas has since gone on to amass 11 Lions over the past two years for multiple clients, including Reckitt Benckiser and Virgin Mobile, as well as Gold at Clio and many other international creative awards. He was previously at AMV BBDO, where he won the inaugural Cannes Grand Prix for Creative Effectiveness with the ‘Walkers Sandwich’ campaign, and before that was at Leo Burnett Sydney, where he wrote the McDonald’s ‘Inner Child’, named in Campaign Brief’s ‘Top Ten Ads of the Decade 2000-2010’.