The One Club Appoints Ali Rez and Damon Stapleton to International Board of Directors

​The One Club for Creativity, the world’s foremost non-profit organisation whose mission is to support the global creative community, has named a pair of top creative leaders to its prestigious International Board of Directors.

Starting three-year terms in the role are Ali Rez, CCO at Impact BBDO Group in Dubai, and Damon Stapleton, co-CCO at Droga5 ANZ, part of Accenture Song, based in Auckland.

Board members are responsible for providing input and feedback on the club’s ongoing global programming, supporting The One Show and ADC Annual Awards in their region, elevating the annual industry benchmark Global Creative Rankings, connecting the club with advertising and design universities and schools, and recommending outstanding candidates to serve as awards judges.

“I’m very honoured to be joining this fabulous group of thinkers at a very critical point in the global creative industry, and to bring an important perspective from the Middle East region,” said Ali.

“I am honoured and excited to be appointed to the International Board,” said Damon. “The One Show has been a huge part of my career; it’s always been the benchmark I’ve measured against for the quality of my work, and that of the industry. I cannot wait to get started and look forward to making a difference.”

Ali, who this year became the Middle East’s first jury president at The One Show (for the Interactive Online & Mobile discipline), currently leads creative output for the Impact BBDO Group across the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan region.

He is the most awarded creative leader in the Middle East, having won more than 1,000 international accolades in his career spanning four continents over 20 years.  

Ali has been named Creative Person of the Year four times by Campaign magazine, and led Impact BBDO to 41 different No.1 Regional Agency accolades in the last four years for bringing business success and creative excellence to the Group, and positive impact to social causes.

Prior to his current role at Droga5 ANZ, part of Accenture Song, Damon was the founder of The Monkeys Aotearoa.  He has also been Regional CCO at DDB ANZ, and CCO at DDB New Zealand, where he won 20 Agency of the Year titles, including DDB New Zealand being named  creative agency of the year in Australia. 

His career also included serving as ECD of Saatchi & Saatchi Australia and TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris, which was voted South African agency of the decade in 2010. He has worked on global brands such as BMW, Toyota, Nissan, Heineken, Visa, Cadbury, McDonalds and the FIFA World Cup campaign for Adidas in South Africa.

Damon is most known for his 'Trillion Dollar' bill campaign for The Zimbabwean, and 'Penny the Pirate' for OPSM, which together have won over 200 international awards. 'Penny the Pirate' was judged to be the most effective campaign in the world by the WARC 100, and The Zimbabwean campaign is in the permanent collection of the British Museum.

The One Club for Creativity – home of The One Show, ADC Annual Awards, Art Directors Club of Europe (ADCE) awards, ONE Asia Creative Awards, Type Directors Club and competition, TDC Ascenders, Young Guns, Young Ones Student Awards, Next Creative Leaders, ONE School, ONE Creator Lab, Where Are All The Black People conference and career fair, Portfolio Night, Creative Week, and more – is the world’s foremost non-profit organization whose mission is to support and celebrate the success of the global creative community. Revenue generated from entries to its global awards shows goes back into the industry to fund programs that support industry access, creative education, up-skilling, re-skilling, and placement and enhancement of creative careers around the world.