M&C Saatchi Sydney appoints BBH London’s Ross Berthinussen to group strategy director role

M&C Saatchi Sydney has made yet another world class bolster to its burgeoning strategy stocks with the appointment of BBH London strategy director & partner Ross Berthinussen to group strategy director.

Reporting to chief strategy officer Justin Graham, Berthinussen will help shape and drive the M&C Saatchi Group’s strategic offer in the newly created role.

In particular he will lead strategy on the NRMA/SGIO and SGIC direct insurance brands in addition to Lexus and Google.

For the past nine years Berthinussen was a key cog of strategy powerhouse BBH London.

Highlights include leading the strategy for the global relaunch of British Airways with the award winning ‘To Fly To Serve’ brand idea that spearheaded the airline’s recovery. He was also integral to the multi-award winning ‘Don’t Fly’ campaign for British Airways’ sponsorship of the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympic Games.

More recently, Berthinussen led the strategy for KFC, developing a new brand positioning and subsequent campaigns that have revolutionised their comms and advertising model.

He was key to establishing  the recently launched BBH Sport, playing an instrumental role in winning the Rugby World Cup 2015 and Adidas businesses.

Berthinussen cut his planning teeth at Grey London from 2002 to 2005, working on the likes of Visa, P&G, Diageo, GSK and Masterfoods.

His work has won plaudits and awards in equal measure, including APG and Marketing Society Golds and IPA Effectiveness metal.

Graham said Berthinussen will bring something special to both the agency and the Australian market.

Says Graham: “Ross is one of the most innovative strategic thinkers anywhere. He attacks clients’ business challenges from all sides, making the seemingly complicated brutally simple and has a track record of developing truly ground-breaking, integrated solutions.

“Most crucially though he is hard wired to provide the sort of long-term strategic leadership and vision within the agency and on our key pieces of client businesses.

“As a mad-keen surfer, he’s also going to have more luck catching some decent swell here than in London.”

Berthinussen said the decision to come halfway around the world to join M&C Saatchi was “surprisingly easy”.

Says Berthinussen: “They are an agency that have embraced innovation at their core and have an insatiable appetite to solve their clients’ business problems in ways far beyond advertising.

“I believe with the resources and people they have invested in they have the potential to lead not just this market, but the world.  It’s extremely exciting.”

Berthinussen is the latest in an injection of world class strategy talent into M&C Saatchi that includes the recent appointments of fellow group strategy director Kate Smither from Ogilvy & Mather where she was global planning partner and Lavender head of planning, Victoria Curro to strategy partner on the Group’s CRM business LIDA.