Saatchi & Saatchi New York has appointed Dustin Tomes to serve as EVP, executive creative director, which is a new role for the agency. Tomes will be working as an extension of Saatchi NY chief creative officer Daniel Lobatón, providing creative assistance across the entirety of the creative department.

Tomes is a product of the Midwest, having grown up on a farm in rural Nebraska. After starting his career at a small agency in Lincoln, he went on to Crispin Porter+Bogusky. From there, he spent time at Leo Burnett, TBWA\Chiat\Day and most recently Droga5 NY as group creative director. An internationally awarded creative, Tomes has turned out work that has been recognized by the likes of One Show, D&AD, Cannes Lions, Webby Awards, Clios, The New York Times, VICE and even George R.R. Martin, the novelist whose work inspired Game of Thrones.

Martin praised the Bud Light/Game of Thrones tie-in spot that Droga5 and Wieden+Kennedy debuted on the 2019 Super Bowl. Titled “Joust,” the commercial had Game of Thrones’ The Mountain make a surprise appearance, ultimately vanquishing the Bud Knight. The piece was crafted by Game of Thrones artisans ranging from director David Nutter to DP Jonathan Freeman to showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. Martin wasn’t involved in the process but when he saw the final spot on the Big Game, he gave it an “awesome” thumbs-up.

Also giving his own thumbs-up to Tomes was Lobatón who is also co-president of Saatchi NY. Lobatón related, “‘Hire someone better than yourself’ is something I kept in mind as I was looking for an ECD that could help us keep pushing the envelope at Saatchi New York. Dustin is that and more. In the past few weeks since he joined us, Dustin’s demonstrated great leadership, fitting perfectly into our culture, knowing who and where to push and how to make the best out of our ‘family table’ collaboration style. His work is iconic, simple, insightful and transcends mediums and channels. Exactly what we want our best work to be.”

Tomes will strive to elevate the work and craft and provide support and guidance for the creative department while placing emphasis on talent attraction and retention.

“The Saatchi & Saatchi brand is known and loved around the world,” said Tomes. “I look forward to working with Daniel and Raig (Adolfo, chief strategy officer and co-president of Saatchi NY) to build on the agency’s rich history of illustrious work alongside some of the most iconic brands in the world.”