Tom Ormes to join iris Amsterdam as Creative Director: Subha Naidu promoted to replace him

Tom Ormes, Creative Director of iris’ Singapore operation, will relocate in June to take up the role at iris’ Amsterdam office. Ormes, who has been the creative force behind some of iris Singapore’s biggest campaigns and new business wins, including Johnnie Walker ‘Step Inside’, Tiger football, Sony Cybershot and Audi’s A8 and A1 campaigns, will take up the role working alongside iris Amsterdam’s managing director Chris Friend.

Ormes (left) said: “It’s been an amazing ride with the fellas here in iris Singapore and I’ll miss the agency, and everyone here a lot. We’re proud of what we’ve achieved to date, and I have no doubt that they’ll take it on to the next level from here. I’m sure Amsterdam will be just as exciting. We’ve got a great team over there doing some great work across some really exciting clients and huge potential for more outstanding work. And it’s Amsterdam. Enough said. I can’t wait.”

Ormes, who joined the agency in December 2008, has been leading iris Singapore’s creative team of 16. In the past two years, iris’ Singapore office has grown from 25 to 70 people, and earned itself a reputation as one of the most successful agencies in the region, being awarded ‘Mid-sized Network of the Year’ at Media magazine’s Agency of the Year Awards 2009.

Craig Mapleston, Managing Director of iris Singapore, said: “Tom has been instrumental in the incredible growth and the increasingly revered creative product of iris Singapore.  He’s has also put enormous energy into developing the creative team and our creative offering.  He is going to be greatly missed here, but is sure to become a valuable asset to our growing office in Amsterdam.

iris’ Amsterdam office, which had its official opening this month, counts Google,Heineken and Philips among its clients. The office is iris’ 23rd globally since its launch in 1999, which has since seen it grow from just seven people to 750 worldwide. The office is located in the Jordaan area of Amsterdam. Iris operates in several other European markets including the UK, France, Germany and Spain, and will be looking to launch more ventures in Europe within thenext year.

Ian Millner, joint CEO of iris, said: “Tom has been leading one of the most impressive and innovative agencies in Asia, doing some ground breaking work for Heineken, Tiger, Sony and adidas. Amsterdam is fast becoming a creative capital so itmakes sense to invest some of our best talent there. I’m really looking forward to working with Tom more closely.”

To replace Ormes, iris has appointed Subha Naidu (left) to fill the position of Creative Director.

“To fill Tom’s Creative Director role, we’ve searched long and far, but the best candidate was right here amongst us. Subha is a rare creative talent who believes and acts idea-centric, and has built up enormous respect amongst the iris team and our clients by consistently delivering brilliant work.” said Mapleston.

Subha Naidu joined iris in 2008 as creative group head and has rapidly risen through the iris Singapore creative ranks.  He has been the creative lead on a number of iris’ blue-chip clients, including Heineken and Sony.