Appointed as ECD in May 2003, Howden was brought on board as part of efforts to strengthen TBWA Malaysia's creative output. He was creative director at Lowe Malaysia and had also worked at Saatchi & Saatchi and Ogilvy & Mather in the UK prior to the role.
Another senior creative talent, Publicis' Steve Clay is also leaving Malaysia for the Middle East. Clay leaves his role of head of creative to join JWT's Kuwait office as ECD, overseeing the Gulf region including Kuwait, Dubai and Bahrain, starting October 1. "After being in Asia for 11 years, I felt it was time to move on and explore a new challenge, which I anticipate the Middle East will be," said Clay.
Some industry insiders have questioned whether the departure of key senior creatives indicates that the Malaysian industry is now coming of age. However, there have also been a number of new non-Malaysian expatriate hires, including Argentinian executive creative dir- ector Daniel Comar, taken on by Ogilvy Malaysia at the end of 2004, and Steve Hough at Saatchis, who was brought on as creative director earlier this year.
