JWT Taiwan has moved to firm up its creative team following the departure of award-winning executive creative director Michael Dee to DDB Shanghai (Media, 11 August), and the forthcoming departure of creative director Shih Yen Lee by the end of September.
Deputy ECD Black Dawn will step up to the ECD role to work alongside managing director Mark Bainbridge, while associate creative directors Neil Wang and John Yang have been promoted to CDs.
While admitting the recent upheaval unsettled some clients, Bainbridge said the new team has a chance to prove itself. He said the agency would shift to a more collaborative approach to creativity, with input from both the creative and account servicing departments.
"(Black's) standards are incredibly high and he can be unforgiving," said Bainbridge. "The challenge he faces lies in proving he can lead a creative department of this size, but he doesn't have to prove himself creatively because he's done that.
"(Neil and John) as ACDs are as good as any CDs out there, so it didn't make sense to go out there and hire someone else, and stunt their career growth."
