CAREERS: Cozens aims to give HSBC consistency

<p>Red has signed up London adland heavy-hitter Mike Cozens as its </p><p>executive creative director. The 29-year veteran of the London ad scene </p><p>took up his new post at the Hong Kong-based Bates subsidiary, which is </p><p>dedicated to the HSBC account, in mid-May, and will head its 10-strong </p><p>creative team. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Before joining Red, Cozens spent six years at Young & Rubicam's London </p><p>office, first of all as creative director for London, and latterly for </p><p>the whole of Europe. He was also the agency's deputy worldwide creative </p><p>director. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Cozens, who comes from a copy writing background, said that the biggest </p><p>attraction of coming to work for Red was the chance to devote himself to </p><p>a single account and have a personal impact on the creative </p><p>strategy. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"When you're a creative director, you work a bit on this and a bit on </p><p>that, but you don't really get the opportunity to focus, and to really </p><p>make a difference on one account," he commented. "You tend to pick your </p><p>favourites. This is a chance to really concentrate on the HSBC business. </p><p>It's also a chance to get back to actually writing stuff." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>He said that the opportunity to be based in a single office, rather than </p><p>roaming around a region, as he did in Europe, was also a factor. "The </p><p>trouble is that you get to know the check-in staff at Heathrow Airport </p><p>better than you know the ads," he joked. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>In addition to Y&R, Cozens has also worked at BBH, where he was one of </p><p>the founding partners in 1982. His other previous jobs include </p><p>commercials director for Ian Single Films and deputy creative director </p><p>for TBWA. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>At Y&R, he created major campaigns for Ford and Pirelli, among others, </p><p>and has also worked for other financial services companies including </p><p>Barclays and NatWest. He is a Cannes Grand Prix award winner, and has </p><p>also scooped two D&AD Golds and three British television advertising </p><p>awards Grand Prix. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Cozens said that his main aim at Red was to bring more consistency to </p><p>HSBC's advertising. "HSBC has been a series of one-offs, and I'm trying </p><p>to make it so that we do more campaignable ideas," he commented. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"I know HSBC do a lot of different products, but I'll be trying to get </p><p>some consistency on the account." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>He added that he was responsible for a similar exercise when he worked </p><p>on the Ford account at Y&R London. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Before moving to Hong Kong, Cozens had been intending to take a </p><p>six-month break from advertising after leaving Y&R to write a novel, but </p><p>cut it short by two months to join Red. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>