Campbell Mithun Hires Heath Ruddick as Chief Creative Officer

Rudduck to Host Live-Streamed Talkinar Conversation About Digital Creativity on February 16 at 1 PM CST

Campbell Mithun announced today the appointment of new Chief Creative Officer Heath Rudduck, formerly Executive Creative Director at Digitas Boston region (includes offices in Detroit, Atlanta and Boston). Rudduck, a 20-year international industry veteran widely considered one of the founders of digital creativity in Australia, assumed Campbell Mithun’s top creative post today, January 5, 2011.

“Heath truly understands how communications are rapidly evolving and has a vision for how we move beyond campaigns to create more meaningful connections between brands and consumers,” said Rachael Marret, President and Director of Integrated Client Services. “In addition to his creative firepower and passion, Heath has a unique depth of technical knowledge, which fortifies our already strong ability to create rich consumer experiences that drive real business impact.”

Rudduck’s appointment marks the second phase of the agency’s recent acceleration toward a more digitally centric future, following its merger this past summer with digital leader MRM Worldwide (Minneapolis). Together Rudduck and Marret, as Chief Creative Officer and President, respectively, now fill the vacancy created by the departure of former President and CCO Jonathan Hoffman in December 2009.

“I’m very excited to join a team that has embraced from top to tail the changes coming across the marketing landscape,” said Rudduck. “Campbell Mithun has infused technical innovation and creativity throughout the organization instead of merely adopting a ‘digital swagger’ to pacify onlookers.”

Rudduck brings to the agency a strong track record of managing creative output for digital, integrated and traditional accounts, while also proving himself a master at nurturing client relationships and delivering new business to the bottom line. His passion for brand storytelling fits squarely with Campbell Mithun’s own venerable brand-building reputation.

“One of the great things about Heath, we felt, was how much his leadership style and experience complement the talent in our creative department, especially Executive Creative Director Reid Holmes,” said CEO Steve Wehrenberg. “In partnership, Heath and Reid will continue to deliver big ideas that make Everything Talk for our clients’ brands. And we want to thank Reid for his passionate stewardship of our creative department this past year.”

While at Digitas, Rudduck contributed to the high performance of the Boston region by helping land the Aflac account, double the P&G business, win Goodyear, and assist GMC and Buick with emerging from the post-bankruptcy landscape. Previously, he played digital leadership roles at Tribal DDB (Australia) and DDB Melbourne, as well as at Squib, Zivo and BBDO Interactive (Australia), all of which he also founded/co-founded. He earned his creative stripes as an art director for both Clemenger BBDO and Young & Rubicam.

Rudduck to Host Live-Streamed Talkinar on February 16 at 1pm CST
Rudduck will jump right in as Campbell Mithun’s creative chief by hosting a live interactive Talkinar conversation about digital creativity via the agency’s website on February 16 at 1pm CST. On event day, website visitors can watch the live-streamed video and participate by submitting comments/questions via the event’s chat feature or on Twitter (hashtag: #talkinar). To receive more information about the upcoming Talkinar, send an email to [email protected], including “send details” in the subject line. The February 16th Talkinar will be the second in a series of video-streamed digital conversations hosted by the agency.

About Campbell Mithun
Campbell Mithun has thrived for 77 years guided by Ray Mithun’s founding philosophy: make “everything talk” for client brands. The agency has built a national brand-building reputation and, with its Compass Point Media unit and BrandOptix package-design resource, continues to build client success in today’s digital marketplace by making Everything Talk at each (increasingly granular) point of customer contact.

Primary Contact:
Kristine Olson
(612) 347-1616
[email protected]