Lida poaches 'star' Golik from Rapp to head up creative

Lida has gone for a big name signing to succeed chief creative officer Trefor Thomas by luring Rapp group ECD Ben Golik to the role, having initially handed his responsibilities to Thomas’ former second in command, executive creative director Tori Winn.
Golik joined Rapp in 2015, having spent a decade at Kitcatt Nohr, in a move which ultimately led to the departure of Rapp ECD Jason Andrews. Andrews now works at Gyro in the newly launched CRM division.
Thomas joined the M&C Saatchi-owned agency in March 2016 from SapientNitro, succeeding Nicky Bullard as its first chief creative officer, but quit in December without a job to go to.
At the time, it was reported that he had handed over control of the creative department to two of his key recruits; Winn, who joined the agency from Precedent in August 2016, and creative director Pavel Fernandez, who was poached from SapientNitro last year.
However, Golik will now take overall control of Lida’s creative output, and report to chief executive Victoria Fox, who said: “Creative flair and step change thinking is needed more than ever to ensure our whole industry is loud and proud about the unique ability we have to solve marketing challenges for clients. Ben is, quite simply, a star and we can’t wait to get working with him.”
Golik added: “The agency has everything needed to raise the bar for creativity for our industry – the brightest people, a fantastic can-do culture and a massive level of ambition.”
It is not known who will succeed him at Rapp; creative partner Andy Barwood was appointed Golik’s right-hand man in August 2016.