Doner Appoints Wayne Deakin as Executive Creative Director
Today, full-service advertising agency Doner announced it has appointed Wayne Deakin as Executive Creative Director of its London office. In this new role, Deakin will oversee all creative efforts for the agency’s London office as Doner looks to further expand its International profile. He will report to Rob Strasberg, co-CEO & Chief Creative Officer of Doner.
“We’re determined to provide our clients with ideas that not only move people, but move them to action,” said Strasberg. “Wayne is an incredible talent with an integrated approach to creative and a strong, entrepreneurial spirit which will help deliver groundbreaking work and drive transformational business results for our clients both in the US and UK. We couldn’t be happier to have him and his very big hair join the Doner team.”
As ECD of Doner London, Deakin will lead creative output and assist in elevating the level of creativity across all media for the agency’s growing client roster including the Fiat Group and Invisalign. The former recently appointed Doner London as its lead digital agency, in addition to handling social media across all of its brands. The latter awarded Doner London its social media business in several European markets, a role the agency continues to grow throughout its client base. Furthermore, Deakin will help continue to bolster the creative momentum Doner has generated over the past two years across its offices in Detroit, Cleveland, Atlanta and Los Angeles.
“Wayne’s stature and pedigree are the perfect fit at such a dynamic time for the agency here in the UK and in the States,” said Andrew Hawkins, Managing Director, Doner London. “He’s a very rare breed of creative who can deliver truly integrated, award-winning campaigns that elevate brands into pop culture. I’ve admired his work from afar since we first met four years ago, and I’m thrilled to now be able to welcome him to the Doner family.”
With over 20 years of experience, Deakin is widely renowned as an industry thought-leader and innovator. His work has been consistently recognized by every major industry award show. Most recently, he was awarded the BIMA Grand Prix for his work on Xbox’s "Play Like a Legend" campaign and the DADI Grand Prix for Tesco Mobile’s “No Joke” campaign. Deakin’s work has been featured in leading publications including Fast Company, Campaign, Adweek and The Drum. He is also a regular contributor to a number of industry publications and award shows.
Most recently, Deakin served as ECD at The Engine Group, where he worked across the group’s agencies and clients. He joined Engine Group initially to be ECD for Jam, where he built its creative department from scratch, helping to grow Jam by 350 percent, made Samsung ‘the world’s number one social brand,’ won numerous awards and then moved to an expanded ECD role within the group. Previously, he was a Creative Director at Jung Von Matt, before taking on the role at Jam. Prior to that, Deakin was a Group Creative Director at 20:20 and GP Y&R in Sydney. During his career, he also held senior positions at the likes of Cohn & Wells Partners, Leo Burnett, and Saatchi & Saatchi.
"Its an extremely exciting time to be joining Doner,” said Deakin. “It's an agency that has both a great history and a great future. Andrew, Rob and the entire U.S team, along with MDC Partners place creativity, innovation and the entrepreneur mind-set first. There's a start up energy and passion in the air, and I am confident it will make great work happen.”
Deakin's appointment comes at a time when Doner is successfully extending its global footprint on the heels of tremendous success across its network of agencies. Over the past year, the agency expanded its two U.K and four U.S offices and won a number of prestigious accounts including JC Penney, Bristol Myers Squibb, taking on additional work for Chrysler and Fiat and most recently winning back ADT.
