Saatchi & Saatchi NZ Launches Saatchi Design

​Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand has built a brand-new design team, led by newly-appointed design director, Shiv Narandas.

​Lee Sunter, executive creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi NZ, told LBB the design team – which will work alongside the creative department – was created to “push the work forward generally,” and “attract clients to see us as Saatchi’s Design, not just Saatchi & Saatchi, the ideas company.”

The hiring goal was to “really find people that could take us forward, could broaden our skill set,” he said, as well as “pushing the culture on and making the culture better.”

The opportunity to join was “too good not to not explore” for Shiv.

“Especially in advertising, design is usually seen as an executional or rollout – not on purpose, it just tends to happen that way. People get really busy and if there's no strong design presence within the business, it's never really put at the forefront,” he said.

“Straight off the bat, talking to Lee and hearing what he had to say, there was a really strong desire for that. Because of the previous history of Saatchi design and how well it was doing, I knew that was integrated into the DNA, so that was a massive pull for me.”

Previously self-employed, Shiv also spent time as lead designer at True. He is joined by intermediate designer Laura Cooper, digital creative Matt Wood, and junior designer Talia Schofield. “I was really stoked with how the design team and the wider business has just really melded,” Shiv said.

Laura has worked as a freelancer on New Zealand brands such as Triumph and Disaster, Pals, and Zuru. Matt hails from the UK, while Talia has landed her first full time role after being a finalist at The Best awards.

“We didn't just look for excellent talent, but excellent people as well,” Lee said.

“The best places I've worked were places that built an amazing design team – to be a part of the creative development concept, right at the heart and in the rooms with clients.”

The immediate priority was collaboration, and asking, ‘How do we elevate certain ideas?’

“Within a month and a half, I feel like we've rolled out so much, we've been a part of every part of the business really quickly. That just goes to show the desire and how much they want to integrate design into the wider business,” said Shiv.

Within 12 months, Lee wants to be “approached for pure design projects that could lead to other things.”

“The goals are that people approach us for Saatchi design as well as Saatchi work in general. You want people to look at you and think, ‘the stuff that comes out there looks amazing.’”

He also laughed, “It's a strange thing to say, but I think a good sign of a good place doing really well is people trying to steal your talent.

“If in 12 months people are knocking on the door, you're hearing of people trying to steal you people, I think that's a sign that you're doing something right. But then obviously they stay because they want to stay here.”

Clients should be excited that Saatchi & Saatchi has built the design team to tackle the ever-changing design landscape head-on.

“The standard of what a good design case study is has changed so much over time – no longer are you just delivering a PDF with brand guidelines or a folder of PNGs, it's so much more than that. Now, it's the experience side of things. There's motion, there's custom type, there's digital applications. Design is now part of the whole world of what a brand could be.”

Clients should be ready to expect that the people working on their brand – and helping to push it forward – are in the room with a seat at the table, Lee added.

“Clients can expect an opinion. They can expect opinions that may push people's boundaries, it may challenge them. But as an agency or as a design company, that's what you're hired to do.

“You're hired to give an opinion – and you can be wrong, and that's fine. You're allowed to say what you think it could possibly be, as long as everyone walks into the room with an open mind about what's possible.”

Shiv’s “holy trifecta” is a workplace good for the business, people, and clients. Those make for “a happy designer” and “when a designer is happy, they make great work. That's the hopes and dreams for the next 12 months, but we've already done so much in a month, which has been epic.”