Saatchi Taps Seisser

This will be Stan Becker’s 28th–and last–year with Saatchi & Saatchi. On Wednesday, Tod Seisser will succeed him as chief creative officer here.
Becker, 63, has held the top creative post at Saatchi’s New York office since 1994. He will remain at the agency as a consultant through December.
Seisser, 40, last worked at J. Walter Thompson here, where he was co-creative director. He left in December, following New York chief executive officer Susan Gianinno and JWT’s worldwide creative director, Helayne Spivak.
Seisser will oversee a department of about 150. He said his first task will be to “get as smart about the place and the clients as I possibly can.”
“Tod and I are going to be the partnership, building the agency to its next level,” said Jennifer Laing, chairman and chief executive officer of Saatchi & Saatchi North America. Seisser will also serve on the Saatchi & Saatchi worldwide creative board.
Seisser, who has also worked at Ammirati Puris Lintas and Levine, Huntley, Schmidt & Beaver, won a Gold Lion at Cannes for work on Phillips Milk of Magnesia. He also coined “Moving at the speed of business” for UPS.
Among Becker’s many career achievements are 25 Effie awards. He also wrote the “Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t” tag for Almond Joy and Mounds, and was an early mentor to Cliff Freeman.
A handful of large New York agencies currently have vacancies for creative chiefs, including JWT, Wells BDDP and Young & Rubicam.