Saatchi & Saatchi Australia strengthens creative leadership with new ECD appointments

Saatchi & Saatchi Australia has appointed James Cowie as executive creative director and promoted Piero Ruzzene to the same role, bolstering the agency’s senior creative leadership amid ongoing business momentum.

The newly created ECD positions are effective immediately and follow a period of growth for the agency, with nine new brands joining its client portfolio over the past 12 months.

Co-chief creative officers Mandie van der Merwe and Avish Gordhan said strengthening creative leadership was a natural next step.

“Off the back of nine new brands joining our client portfolio in the last 12 months, adding and recognising creative firepower was a natural decision,” they said.

Cowie brings more than 20 years’ experience to the role, including time working in New York across major global accounts. Ruzzene (pictured) joined Saatchi & Saatchi Australia more than 11 years ago and was most recently creative director. He has led several of the agency’s recent campaigns and has been recognised at major award shows.

“I’m a Saatchi & Saatchi lifer,” Ruzzene said. “From being a junior burger back in the day to a Creative Director working across many of our biggest brands, it’s been a privilege to work under such an iconic name for more than a decade. This new title is a step up, but it won’t change my drive to deliver work that lives up to the legacy across all our clients.”