BANGKOK McCann Erickson has bolstered its creative ranks once more, poaching four leading creatives from Creative Juice.
The four — Suvit Jaturiyasajagul, Wichit Jiamsrikarn, Nutchanun Chiapanumas and Chinnawut Awakul — come on board just a few months after the agency tapped legendary Thai creative Jureeporn Thaidumrong to oversee its local creative output. All four have been appointed creative directors and will report to McCann Erickson Thailand chief creative officer Martin Doyle.
"(They) are all Cannes and other major awards winners in their own rights and are looking for the challenge at a big agency with the right chemistry," said McCann Worldgroup Thailand CEO Mark Ingrouille.
The hires follow the arrival of Eric Einhorn as McCann Worldgroup regional chief earlier this year. Speaking to Media, Einhorn revealed that he is banking on creativity to help the IPG network finally shed the 'machine' tag.
"There is management support for the highest levels of creativity that might not have been so clear in the past, and it certainly helps to have a regional director from the creative community," he said.
Einhorn is confident that his own background as a creative planner will prove instrumental in continuing McCann on its path to becoming, in his words, "a top-three creative agency".
"We were a machine, a bit mechanical," said Einhorn. "But that's not good enough... Mechanics won't deal with that world — it needs an incredible amount of intuition, understanding, insight, brilliance and creativity."
In other news, McCann Thailand has won Microsoft Thailand's creative brief, extending the agency's global AOR with the company. McCann outgunned competition from three other agencies, including incumbent One Roof.
Meanwhile, Universal McCann Thailand has named Somyot Chairat as its new managing director, succeeding Sakda Preechawipat who retires this month.
Chairat joins the agency from the 24-7 Group.
