Sydney, Australia – Creative agency Host/Havas has announced the appointment of former creative director at Droga5 New York Henry Kember as its newest group creative director, where he will play an important role in the agency’s creative leadership, and will also help in continuing to shape and drive company culture.
Through his new role, Kember will be overseeing projects across the entire Host/Havas client portfolio which includes Air New Zealand, NBA, Reckitt, Stockland, Palau Legacy Project, Avis Budget Group, Tassal and United Nations Free & Equal.
He brings into the agency over 15 years of experience both locally and internationally. During his stint at Droga5 New York, During his career, Kember has worked on some of the world’s most iconic brands such as Covergirl, PayPal, IKEA and Diageo.
Jon Austin, ECD at Host/Havas, commented that they are thrilled to have someone of Henry’s fearsome calibre and talent join them at Host/Havas, noting that he has long admired Kember’s creative talents during his other stints in other agencies.
“Not just for his incredible aesthetic and passion, but also for his ability to genuinely impact and leverage popular culture in his thinking. In fact, when we were chatting, I’d leave every call feeling like he’d somehow managed to jam several SXSW talks into our Zoom chat. And not even premium Zoom, just the 45-minute one, which is even more impressive,” Austin said.
Meanwhile, speaking about his appointment, Kember commented, “It’s a fascinating, challenging time to be in advertising. No one gets this more than Jon Austin, Olly Taylor and Laura Aldington, and no one’s better set up to thrive at this moment than Host/Havas. Plus they’re so nice I could never have pitched against them. Even the fact that Jon was front man for NZ’s version of Blink 182 couldn’t stop me signing on.”
