VCCP's Darren Bailes takes on global creative role

VCCP has elevated Darren Bailes to chief creative officer of VCCP Group, making him responsible for overseeing the creative output of its eight offices, located in London, Madrid, Prague, New York, San Francisco, Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney.

Bailes has been VCCP's ECD in London for nearly 14 years.

To replace him, the agency has promoted creative directors Jonny Parker and Chris Birch as joint ECDs.

Bailes said: “Our creative department couldn’t be in more capable, talented, funny, and charming hands. It’s a pleasure to hand over the reins to Jonny, who’s been here from boy to man, and to Chris, who joined in 2013 and helped to supercharge both of their trajectories."

The pair will continue to lead global creative work for Cadbury, which Bailes highlighted as a factor in their ascent. “I made them creative directors after the Cadbury pitch win [in 2017]. And the work they have done for Cadbury and other Mondelez brands more than qualifies them for the ECD role."

The London agency has also appointed two creative directors, hiring Kimberley Gill from BBH and promoting Caroline Rawlings.

New joint ECDs Parker and Birch said: “We’re thrilled to be taking on this role. We love VCCP – the goodness, the madness, the people, and the work."

They added: “Caroline and Kim are going to be a huge part of this and we're thrilled they're here.”

Rawlings has been at VCCP since 2018 and recently led the new brand positioning for Green & Black's and Dairylea. Gill, who featured in Campaign's list of creative female trailblazers, was a creative director and partner at BBH London and worked on brands such as Volkswagen and Barclays.

Adrian Coleman, group chief executive of VCCP, said: “These promotions and hires signal a new and exciting era for VCCP as we supercharge and unite our creative offering both globally and locally.

“We're incredibly proud to have experienced another year of exponential growth due to our unique offering and relentless focus on our clients' businesses.”