Rob Steeles nets group role at St Ives digital agencies

rob steelesAMV BBDO creative director Rob Steeles  has been appointed to the newly created role of group executive creative director across St Ives-owned digital agencies Realise, Amaze and Branded3 as part of the strategy to bring the businesses closer together.
Steeles has more than 20 years’ agency experience, starting his career at FCB before spells at Rapp, GGT, Wunderman, 23Red, Kitcatt Nohr and Rapier.
He will be part of the executive leadership team, reporting to managing director Fiona Proudler, and be the “guardian of creativity and innovation”, across the agencies’ strategic thinkers and creatives.
He joined AMV BBDO in January 2016, and led a number of teams working on brands including BT, Camelot, Walkers, Verisure, Mercedes, Carphone Warehouse, Currys PC World, Mars Foods and Smart Energy GB, delivering campaigns from brand platforms, through to digital, direct, social and experiential.
Steeles said: “This is a once-in-a-career opportunity to bring my style of creativity to a new group of leading digital agencies. There’s a genuine hunger to push the work to a new level and realise the potential  of the impressive client portfolio. I can’t wait to make a difference to the teams, the agencies and all the clients I’ll be working with.”
Steeles will work alongside Amaze creative director Paul Normington and Realise creative director James Bruce to manage a 30+ strong team across London, Manchester and Edinburgh agencies. This role will also see him work on key clients including Lexus Europe, Heathrow Airport, Virgin Trains East Coast, Lloyds Bank, Co-op Food and Expedia.
Proudler, who took on the group role in September last year, said: “The power of creativity is an extremely important focus for us. Such is the dynamic of today’s marketplace, the problems clients need us to solve relate to fundamental business challenges, not just pure creative communications. Recruiting Rob cements our commitment to giving creativity a purpose by marrying it with our already established technology skills to deliver truly innovative work.”

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