Heartfield Moves Up at BBH as Austin Moves On

Ian Heartfield has been promoted to chief creative officer of BBH London. 

The promotion creates a single point of creative leadership, with Heartfield's co-ECD (and Black Sheep Studios founder) Anthony Austin departing to pursue opportunities outside of BBH.  

Heartfield joined BBH in 2010 having worked for Ogilvy, AMV BBDO and Fallon. Over the past eight years he has written award-winning work and acted as creative director on many of the agency’s flagship accounts, most recently leading Absolut, Uber, St John Ambulance and Audi. 

Heartfield’s previous work has won multiple awards including the Grand Prix at Cannes and The One Show, D&AD Pencils, golds and silvers at BTAA and Creative Circle. He was The Gunn Report’s most awarded copywriter in the world in 2006.

Commenting on his promotion, Heartfield said: "There is real creative momentum at BBH right now. And we are making and winning projects of a much more diverse nature than ever before. Plus the work is working, as the IPA Shortlist proves. But this is just the beginning.  We have some important decisions to make as we look to the future and shape the department and agency accordingly.  To be the creative lead at a time of change like this is incredibly exciting and a big responsibility, one I don't intend to take lightly."

"I'm very excited for the future of creativity in London under Ian's brilliant leadership," added Pelle Sjoenell, BBH's worldwide chief creative officer. "I would also like to thank Anthony for his contribution to BBH in both his launch of our very successful in house production company Black Sheep Studios, and our recent creative highlights. I wish him all the best in his next role."