Yes, before you even ask, we do have the memo, which, somewhat surprisingly, reveals that the title of group creative director hasn’t been used at the agency before. As has been the norm, a memo to staff from president/CCO Tor Myhren landed in our tips box and this time, says most importantly that Leo Savage and Jeff Stamp, creative directors on the Gillette biz, have indeed been promoted to GCDs. Savage has spent the last 18 months, give or take, as a creative director at Grey, while Stamp joined the agency after working at the likes of Campfire and Possible. Anyhow, we’ll let Tor take it away after the jump and provide details on the pair and the new position.
“Forever, I’ve tried to simplify the structure of our creative department. But as we’ve grown and grown, it has become apparent that there are creatives here who have tremendous responsibilities and are overseeing very large groups – somewhere between CD and ECD. So as of today, we are introducing a new creative title: Group Creative Director.
There are no better virgin candidates for this position than Leo Savage and Jeff Stamp. Why? Because they helped run the largest pitch in the history of Grey, then they won it, and now they are overseeing Gillette day-to-day. Which means they will have a very large group (Gillette is the largest single brand at Grey, and one of the biggest in the world of advertising). They are also both award-winning creative leaders who have very interesting backgrounds, both in and out of advertising. So, here’s the Cliff’s Notes version of Leo and Jeff:
Jeff ‘s is a bit of an unusual route through the industry – starting in production. Like hardcore on the line production. From there he wrote and directed his own work at places like Hungry Man and Station Film. Then it was longer form content with CAA Branded Entertainment as well as stints with the multi media storytellers at Campfire NYC and digital peeps at Possible. We hired Jeff from Possible, and quickly after joining Grey he won a couple Cannes Lions for his work on the Febreze Breathe Happy campaign. Jeff’s crowning achievement remains being a proud Cincinnatian and seeing basketball great Oscar Robertson naked at the Y once. He collects vintage teddy bears and has two kids, Vince and Jane.
Leo illustrated children’s books before getting his first ad job at Mullen in Boston, then Ogilvy NY, and then Merkley+Partners where he worked on Mercedes Benz. Next stop was China, where he worked on Intel for McCann. Then a summer off to tour Europe, where he had a Saturday morning kids show in Poland based on a toy he designed. Eventually he took another ad job as founding creative director of Leagas Delaney Prague, where he also served as international CD on the car brand Skoda. In just a few years, he helped build Leagas into one of the most awarded and respected shops in Central Europe. Then we hired him to come back to New York and run E*TRADE, which he did brilliantly until the Gillette pitch overtook his entire existence. He digs cars, is an avid mountain biker, and hiked Table Mountain in South Africa in nothing but tight whites. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and 2 month old daughter.
Jeff and Leo will both be very cleanly shaven for the next several years. Please come and give our new GCDs a high five. They deserve it.
Tor.”