FOCUS - EUROPE: BBC appoints Saatchis' Steve East CD

The BBC has raided the advertising agency world to find a new creative director for its commercial TC arm. Steve East, who joins from Saatchi & Saatchi, Middle East, defies the conventional BBC recruitment path in production. He replaces Andi Granger, who recently left the BBC to join British Sky Broadcasting as the creative director of Sky One and head of transmission. East will lead the creative services team which produces on-air promotions for the BBC's joint venture commercial channels. They are UK-TV, which includes UK Gold, UK Drama, UK Style, UK Horizons and UK Play, as well as for the international channel BBC Prime. Commenting on East's appointment, Dave Howe, the controller of creative services, account management, broadcasting and presentations for the BBC, said: "Steve has more than 20 years' experience of the advertising industry and a skill-set which is well suited to our needs. "His knowledge and understanding of the creativity required in the commercial world will be instrumental in helping us remain at the forefront of our industry." East, who helped set up and was a creative director at Ammirati Puris Lintas in Russia before moving to Saatchis, joins the BBC this month. He said of his new responsibilities: "My role is to look at all the channels and try and differentiate between them in their look and feel, and to refresh their approach. "It's a question of moving them along. They are successful products now, but I need to put some more definition between them." Howe added: "Steve's role is strategically important to help sharpen our commercial thinking as the BBC competes in an increasingly competitive and very commercial multimedia environment." East began his advertising career at DMB&B in London, where he was the senior art director. He moved on from the agency to become the creative director for the start-up integrated agency Resolution in London, which no longer exists.

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