180 Amsterdam has appointed two new executive creative directors, a creative director team, a data-focused strategy director and promoted a creative director to ECD level.
Creative partners Katrina Encanto and EJ Galang have joined as ECDs, after spending seven years as a creative team at MullenLowe London leading global clients such as sloggi, Nutella and several Unilever brands, while working on others such as Dulux paints and charities the pair believe in.
They will be working alongside the newly promoted John Messum, who steps up from creative director to ECD. Messum has been behind some award-winning brand campaigns for DHL, Qatar Airways as well as partnership campaigns with FIFA, Formula 1, Barcelona FC and Manchester United.
Encanto and Galang have more than a decade of global experience together having worked in the U.K., Thailand, Italy and their native Philippines. While at Lowe Thailand, their Sunlight work was one of the most awarded campaigns in the world, winning top awards at D&AD, Cannes Lions and other major international shows.
While at MullenLowe London, Encanto and Galang were part of the team behind Redraw The Balance, a gender equality campaign that has gained global attention and has been recreated by the UN and the NHS. This work has also been recognized with two gold Effie awards, helping MullenLowe London become UK Effie Agency of the Year in 2017.
Alongside their passion for the work, Encanto and Galang offer advice to returning creatives, mentor young people from underserved communities, and help juniors become award-winning independent creatives. They jointly sum up their recent creations as, “a music video with a rapping granny in her underwear, a social experiment that’s been recreated by the UN, and a magazine cover that made it to Times Square.”
Kalle Hellzen, chief creative officer at 180 Amsterdam, said of the new hires: “As creatives and as leaders, they are pushing the boundaries within both their work and their commitment to fostering inclusive cultures. Having Kat and EJ on the team adds a fresh perspective as well as deepening our ambition to both see and create the world as it could be.”
180 additionally welcomes Marlon von Franquemont and Reinier Demeijer-Gorissen, a creative director duo who have spent the majority of their career working out of Berlin for agencies such as Jung von Matt, DDB Berlin and INNOCEAN Berlin. The pair worked with international brands including Mercedes-Benz, Nikon, Hyundai and Charité, picking up numerous awards along the way at Cannes Lions, D&AD, Eurobest, and ADC Global to name a few. Most recently they were awarded a Gold and Silver Lion at Cannes Lions for their campaign “Printed by Parkinsons” as well as two Grand Prixs at Eurobest for the same piece.
Also coming aboard 180 Amsterdam as strategy director is Didi Sutisna who was previously based in Singapore working for TBWAWorldwide and TBWAGroup Singapore, fulfilling global roles on brands such as Singapore Airlines.
