David Banta joined DDB Chicago as senior vice president, group creative director. He will be responsible for a multidimensional creative team, handling the agency's Capital One account. Banta will report to John Maxham, chief creative officer of DDB Chicago. Banta most recently served as executive vice president, executive creative director at Hill Holliday in Boston, where he led creative on Liberty Mutual Insurance, Merrell Footwear, Capella University and Cadillac. Prior to Hill Holliday, he was a creative director at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Boulder, CO, where he worked on VW, Burger King, Miller Lite, Shimano and Giro. "We're so psyched to welcome David to the DDB Chicago team," said Maxham. "The diversity of his creative portfolio impressed me the most. I didn't look for typical financial service experience because frankly, Cap One is anything but a typical financial services brand. Despite their success, they maintain the spirit of a challenger brand. Dave is exactly the kind of gutsy creative that can channel that spirit."
Nissan United, an Omnicom unit, hired Antonio Navas as its first chief creative officer, a role previously overseen by Rob Schwartz as global creative president of TBWA Worldwide prior to his recent appointment to CEO of TBWA\Chiat\Day New York. Navas will oversee all global Nissan creative and content from both Omnicom and non-Omnicom agencies. He will be based out of the agency's New York headquarters. He joins Nissan United from Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand, where he was executive creative director working on clients such as Toyota, Defence Force, ASB Bank, Lexus and Telecom. Prior to Saatchi, he did worked at Ogilvy, Goodby Silverstein, FCB, BBDO and Amster Yard. "After an expansive global search, and several conversations with Antonio, we knew we had found the right person to accelerate our global content and creative ambitions for Nissan," said Nissan United President, Jon Castle. "He has an exceptionally strong creative reputation and understands the role of setting the inspirational direction of the brand as well as governing the work from agencies around the world." Nissan United is comprised of executives from Nissan's global agencies of record, including TBWA, OMD, Interbrand, Designory, among others. NU oversees all activities for Omnicom and non-Omnicom agencies on behalf of Nissan.