Seamus Higgins departs R/GA, national creative leads appointed
Ben Yabsley and Prue Jones
R/GA has made two national ECD appointments to lead its creative output, following the departure of chief creative Seamus Higgins.
Higgins did a stint as the agency’s APAC chief creative officer from 2019-2022, before doing a year freelancing in London. He returned to Sydney in 2023 as the local creative boss, where he has spent the past two years.
He has returned to London for personal reasons.
“While we’re incredibly sad to see Seamus go – and the feeling is mutual – we fully support his decision,” Victoria Curro, Australian managing director of R/GA, said in a release.
Seamus Higgins
“Family comes first, always. Since rejoining R/GA two years ago, Seamus has made a lasting impact on the work, the team, and the culture. We’re deeply grateful for everything he’s brought to the business.”
Prue Jones and Ben Yabsley have joined the agency as national ECDs in the wake of Higgins’ exit. According to the release, their arrival signals R/GA’s “intent to move at pace, stay ahead, and help brands run at the future with the agility, independence, and future-readiness that define the company’s creative edge”.
It comes after the agency returned to being a privately owned company earlier this year, after 23 years as part of IPG. A new partnership was formed between its global management, including CEO Robin Forbes and CCO Tiffany Rolfe, and private equity firm Truelink Capital.
Jones joins from Accenture Song, where she was design and creative director. She takes on the official title of national ECD, experience design.
She has expertise in creative strategy, digital and service design, and large-scale transformation. She is also the co-creator of Never Not International Women’s Day, a global initiative that has celebrated women in creativity 24/7 for the past three years.
She said she “couldn’t resist” what R/GA had to offer.
“While a lot of agencies keep repackaging the past and calling it innovation, R/GA knows true future impact comes from inimitable talent, sharp AI plays, a killer client roster, and unbridled creativity as the red thread through it all. Wholly independent and free from the noise of holding company politics, it also brings global scale with deep local expertise,” Jones said in the release.
Meanwhile, Yabsley’s appointment marks his return to the agency. He did a previous stint at R/GA New York from 2021-2023 as creative director, before joining Dentsu Creative New York as group creative director, where he has spent the past two years.
Ben Yabsley and Prue Jones
He has also held various creative roles at Anomaly, Condé Nast, The Monkeys, and M+C Saatchi.
He said he looks forward to returning to Australia: “I can’t think of a better place to be for the upcoming advertising revolution, in a country that values ideas above all else, and at an agency with reinvention baked into its DNA.”
The pair will join R/GA Australia’s executive team, working closely with Curro, executive strategy director Marie Conley, APAC chief design officer Ben Miles, APAC chief technology officer Guill Rodas, recently appointed global executive director of AI products Ben Cooper, and APAC CEO and global head of AI products Michael Titshall.
Curro said the pair bring “the energy and creative ambition” that reflects the direction R/GA is taking as a business.
“We’re building a leadership team with the vision and versatility to lead through change. Our independence and culture of reinvention allow us to respond in real time to where culture, technology, and creativity are heading next, and help our clients do the same,” she said in the release.
R/GA has also recently appointed a new global chief strategy officer in Melissa Jackson Parsey.
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Prue is a superb get. Congrats mate.