• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, November 15, 2022

Independent Australian creative network Special Group established a beachhead in the U.S. two years ago with the opening of an office in Los Angeles.

Now the agency has opened a second U.S. office, in New York City, which with 10 new hires, is already working with clients Uber Eats (US & Canada) and Virgin Voyages.

Dom Dalton and Kelsey Karson have joined as general manager and head of strategy, respectively. Dalton previously was with Johannes Leonardo and Karson served at Deutsch LA.

In addition to its U.S. presence the group has offices in Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne, Wellington, and London.

In the two years since it expanded to the U.S. the agency has produced two award-winning Super Bowl campaigns for Uber Eats including this year’s “Uber Don’t Eats” effort featuring Gwyneth Paltrow.  Last year the agency created a Super Bowl ad for the client featuring Wayne and Garth of Wayne’s World to bring awareness to local restaurants affected by the pandemic. 

Special’s two U.S. offices will be run as one business, with a single leadership team and P&L. According to Cade Heyde, Partner & CEO, Special U.S., “We are motivated by designing a business built to work together to allow clients to benefit from the best talent we have available for the business opportunities they engage us on.”