KEY POINTS:
Saatchi & Saatchi's No 2 creative boss has been poached by rival agency DDB.
Toby Talbot was second in command of Saatchi's creative output and was named Australasia's top creative by industry magazine Campaign Brief.
He has taken over from Paul Catmur, who has moved to Y&R, as executive creative director of DDB for Australia and New Zealand.
But while Catmur oversaw Asia as well as New Zealand, Talbot will be focused on DDB here.
Talbot said: "Saatchi have been great but in the end it is Andrew Stone and Mike O'Sullivan's agency. I'm looking forward to the new challenge."
DDB Australasian boss Marty O'Halloran said only two people here had the required calibre for the job - Talbot and Mojo Advertising executive creative director Nick Worthington.
"In the end it was Toby and we are happy with that."
Talbot's move is the latest in a flurry of activity inside the high-paid echelons of advertising creatives.
He had been interviewed for executive creative director role at Y&R, taken by Catmur, but said the DDB role had a greater variety of clients than Y&R.
Moves for high-priced creative talent is not unusual in the advertising world where agencies compete with one another on the profile of such talent.
Saatchi has recently lost three advertising creative teams with four going to top agencies overseas and two to Ogilvy here.
But Saatchi has also hired six new creatives including four from Colenso BBDO - Levi Slavin, Dave Govier, Hywel James and Tim Huse.
