Veteran Saatchi ad man takes top city spot

By PAUL PANCKHURST


"Legendary" is a word too often used in the advertising world.

It cropped up again yesterday in the press release announcing that former Saatchi & Saatchi art director Len Cheeseman - or "Legendary Len" - has hooked up with Auckland ad agency Publicis Mojo.

However, if a handful of New Zealand's advertising creatives - the people who think up ads - deserve the description, then Cheeseman is probably one of them.

Imported from Britain by Saatchi & Saatchi Wellington in 1992, he has awards from around the globe and is credited with doing much to lift the graphic standard of New Zealand advertising.

Asked about the L-word, Cheeseman said: "When I hear the word legend, it just means I'm an old [expletive] now. Which is true, to be quite frank - I'm [expletive] ancient, man, I'm 55."

The former south Londoner was part of the Saatchi dream team in Wellington, headed by Kim Thorp, that ruled New Zealand advertising in the 1990s but was pulled apart as key members left and Saatchi refocused on Auckland.

The arrangement with Publicis Mojo, that started this week, will see Cheeseman working two days a week for the agency, while he and his family continue living in Wellington.

"There's a lot of family reasons why we want to keep our base there."

Cheeseman will work with executive creative director Nick Worthington, who is another former south Londoner and boasts a big reputation for clients such as Levi's.

Cheeseman is also joining the Wellington arm of visual effects, animation, and post-production company Oktobor as an art director.

He previously worked with Oktobor on projects such as Saatchi's "Choose One" commercial for TV One and an award-winning campaign for a Parihaka exhibition at the City Gallery in Wellington.

Looking back on Saatchi & Saatchi, Cheeseman said: "It was a truly unique and brilliant place to work in - I can't thank them enough for hiring me from the UK."

On the fate of the Wellington office, he said: "It's sad what shook down, but that's life, move on."

On the attraction of Publicis Mojo: "They've got a big drive to improve themselves creatively."

The creative head of the global Publicis network of agencies is Dave Droga - familiar to Cheeseman as a fellow Saatchi veteran.

Along with Oktobor, Cheeseman says: "Both offered me interesting creative opportunities that were quite flexible as well - rather than being holed up in an agency all the time."

Cheeseman officially finished at Saatchi on October 8.