Clay’s brief is to “elevate the overall quality of the agency’s creative output”, according to Lowe president and chief executive Mariles Gustilo. The British-Canadian’s appointment comes six months after former ECD Raul Castro announced his move to McCann Erickson Philippines.
“There is no particular reason for the delay. We just wanted to do an exhaustive search. We had settled on Steve by May,” said Gustilo.
Gustilo said Clay’s experience suited the agency’s mix of regional and local blue chip clients. As ECD, he will oversee work for Unilever, Johnson & Johnson and Unilab. Clay most recently freelanced at Y&R Singapore.
Previously, he was ECD at Publicis Malaysia and JWT Kuwait.
Clay will report to Gustilo, starting 1 July.
