Veteran creative director Erik Vervroegen will switch holding companies again to rejoin the Omnicom team as executive creative director at TBWA\Chiat\Day New York and global art director for the TBWA\Worldwide network.
Vervroegen made the decision after spending nearly five years as worldwide chief creative officer at Publicis Groupe and engaging in a months-long conversation with the TBWA network. In the new role, he will help "amplify" the New York office's creative output while reporting directly to CCO Chris Garbutt, who left Ogilvy & Mather to join the Omnicom network last June.
"TBWA is The Disruption Company," said Garbutt. "As we continue to build our creative leadership globally, Erik embodies this disruptive spirit of TBWA."
Throughout his career, Vervroegen has held top creative roles at some of the industry's most acclaimed shops. He first worked under Garbutt at TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris in South Africa, where both reported to TBWA worldwide creative director John Hunt. He later joined TBWA\Paris as an executive creative director, winning a total of 106 Cannes Lions over a nearly seven-year span and earning the title of president. He then moved to Omnicom's Goodby Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco, where he worked on such award-winning campaigns as AIDES' "Protect Yourself" before joining Publicis in Paris in 2011.
In addition to winning two Cannes Lions Grand Prix awards for his work, Vervroegen has served as a juror or speaker at nearly every major international advertising festival.
Regarding his new position, Vervroegen said, "To stay passionate and at the top of one's game, one should never lose their beginner's spirit. Creativity is about fighting for the best ideas and crafting until the last bell. There is no place that understands this more than TBWA."