Meet our global networks Chief Creative Officers, from across all continents.

Steve Cochran is a born and bred New Zealander. He is older than 50, however his hair has been that colour since he was 25.

Cochran qualified as a graphic designer 3 weeks after the stock market crash of 87. Luckily he still managed to find a job.

After three years at Dave Clark Design Associates he decided advertising was his true calling.

So, he labelled himself an art directing-copywriter and touted his ‘book’ around agencies, of course starting with the well-renown Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand.

With no positions available there, the first role he got was at Ogilvy and Mather, where he’d get three years experience before joining a Clemenger Group agency, HKM Advertising.

In 1997 he was invited to join another Clemenger agency, Colenso BBDO, where he would eventually become Executive Creative Director in 2010, a position he held for the following decade.

Over more than 22 years at Colenso BBDO he played a significant role in its culture and building its world class reputation.

A few of the Colenso’s achievements over that time include:

Being in the top 20 of The Big Won report for 9 years in a row.

In the Gunn Report’s top 50 in the world.

In WARC’s top companies, in both creativity and effectiveness rankings.

Number 1 in Contagious Pioneers world rankings twice.

Campaign Brief’s Agency of the Decade in 2010 and again in 2020.

Agency of the Year at New Zealand’s Axis Awards six times between 2010 - 2020.

Cannes Lions Agency of the Decade – Pacific, 2020.

Cochran has collected awards at all the global and local creative and effectiveness shows you’d expect a CCO to be able to list.

He also has a reel of lovable work that makes his mum and dad proud.

He’s worked with iconic New Zealand brands like Tip Top Ice Cream, DB Breweries, New World Supermarket, Air New Zealand, Fonterra, Anchor, both AMI and Sate Insurance, Bank of New Zealand, Sky City and Yellow Pages.

He’s also worked with global brands like Mars, VW, Visa, Samsung and Burger King.

Finally after more than two brilliant decades at Colenso, the time was right to move on.

And where better to move to, than the first agency he ever approached as a young creative looking for a job back in 1990.

They may not have hired him then, but they did suggest he come back once he had more experience.

Cochran joined Saatchi and Saatchi New Zealand as Chief Creative Officer in July 2020.