Mandie van der Merwe and Avish Gordhan take the
helm as creative directors at the Sydney office of Australia's largest
independent agency, Cummins&Partners. The pair first
joined Cummins&Partners in August 2015.
After
two years producing outstanding campaigns for FoxSports, QT Hotels
& Resorts, Allianz, Go Gentle Australia with Andrew Denton and PUMA
Oceania, their ascendancy comes at an exciting time for the agency
having recently won HBF, Podravka Foods, University of Tasmania and
fintech start-up Lodex.
Gordhan and van der Merwe have been
recognised at almost every major international and local award show.
Their work includes the critically acclaimed '#ShotBySound' campaign for
David Jones, the controversial 'Stop The Horror' project for Go Gentle
Australia, and the darkly comedic 'Last Dictator Standing' campaign for
Nando's South Africa, among others.
Before joining Cummins&Partners Sydney, the pair worked at TBWA\
Sydney and some of the most renowned agencies in South Africa including
TBWA\ Hunt Lascaris and Black River FC.
Says Sean Cummins,
founding partner, Cummins&Partners: "I have watched from afar the
meticulous and thoughtful work of Mandie and Avish and it truly
represents where we want to be as an agency.
"The creative scene
in Australia has been a bit one note for too long and there is a bigger
and more diverse world that exists beyond the watering holes of Sydney's
adland. There has been recent excitement about agency sell-outs...but the
true shift in advertising doesn't happen because a consultancy buys a
hot shop. It happens person-by-person, brief-by-brief, day-by-day. Avish
and Mandie are exquisite thinkers, insightful outsiders and real
people."
Says Gordhan: "Upon hearing of our promotion, Mandie
patted me on the back then said, "now, let's get back to work." It sums
up our approach to the role. It's a great honour to be recognised but
the real reward is not the position itself. It'll be succeeding in it by
making excellent work that works for our clients, and challenges our
industry."
Says van der Merwe: "We are a highly motivated,
diverse and creative group of people in Sydney. I'm looking forward to
building on this foundation and pushing the quality of work even
further. Personally, I'm excited to be working more closely with Kirsty
Muddle, one of the founders of the business. She is intimidatingly smart
and a striking example of what strong, female leadership looks like in a
modern agency."