Saatchi & Saatchi now has yet another CEO, Claire Hollands joining from the same position at IPG’s MullenLowe.
Hollands (above) replaces James Denton-Clark who left after less than a year (since resurfaced at Forsman & Bodenfors.) Sam Hawkey left in 2021 but has rejoined the Publicis fold as boss of Digitas.
Hollands says: “The Saatchi talent, creativity and love for what they do is inspiring. I’ve been impressed by the quality of the client work, the strength of the client partnerships, and the ambition for progress and I look forward to working with the team to elevate this further.”
Publicis UK creative boss Charlie Rudd says: “We were very clear that for the next Saatchis’ CEO, we wanted a modern and progressive leader who comes with a proven track record in running successful agencies.
“Claire has an exceptional reputation, she is a real champion of creativity, and has exactly the leadership skills required to lead the agency in its next chapter.”
Quite why Saatchi has motored through so many CEOs is something of a mystery: the agency is currently top of the Nielsen UK billings table (for the first time since the brothers were in charge) and its creative work has steadily improved under CCO Franki Goodwin, with key account EE a particular stand-out.
