TBWA\Chiat\Day New York hired veteran copywriter Wade Alger as its newest executive creative director, Adweek reports.
Alger will begin his new role in December and work closely with global head of art Erik Vervroegen, who returned to the agency in June following nearly five years as Publicis Groupe’s international chief creative officer out of Paris. He will report directly to global creative president Chris Garbutt, who resigned his role as Ogilvy East CCO to join TBWA in June of 2015.
“I have been a huge fan of Wade’s work for years,” Garbutt said in a statement. “He is a gifted writer with a brilliant sense of humor who has created platform ideas that take brands from the traditional and conventional to integrated and disruptive. Not only will he bring a wealth of experience and talent to the agency, but a drive that will propel our collective forward to the iconic.”
Alger joins TBWA from The Martin Agency, where he most recently served as senior vice president, group creative director. As co-leader of the agency’s Geico account, he was part of the team behind the “Unskippable” campaign. He joined The Martin Agency as associate creative director in June of 2008, working his way up to vice president, creative director three years later and his most recent role three years after that. Before joining The Martin Agency he spent two years as a creative director with GSD&M, following three years as group creative director with TM Advertising. Prior to that he served as a copywriter and senior copywriter with DDB and Sq1, respectively.
“TBWA in New York has great momentum, and I’m very excited to be joining the team,” Alger said. “GEICO’s work has been disrupting the car insurance category for years. TBWA’s drive to do the same, create disruptive and culturally relevant work for their clients, was too attractive to pass up. I can’t wait to get started and hopefully add to the success of this very storied agency.”