What you need to know:

• Dani Bassil has been named CEO of Clemenger BBDO Australia, which the agency says brings Melbourne and Sydney together for clients.
• Bassil was most recently CEO of Digitas UK.
• The new appointment follows Melbourne Group CEO Jim Gall’s decision to resign after more than a decade with Clemenger Group.
• Julian Bell, currently Melbourne managing partner, will become Managing Director, Melbourne, for Clemenger BBDO Australia.

The two once-fiercely independent Sydney and Melbourne Clemenger BBDO agencies have been unified, with Clemenger Group naming former Digitas UK chief Dani Bassil as the new CEO of Clemenger BBDO Australia.

Bassil, who has spent the past 20 years in the UK, will return home to Australia for the role.

In a statement announcing the changes, Clemenger Group CEO Les Timar said Bassil had a record of connecting data, media, creative and technology.

“Dani relishes the incredible opportunity she will have to build on Clemenger BBDO’s global reputation for creativity, through the integration and development of enhanced capabilities to most effectively solve our clients’ business problems,” he said.

Bassil said: “It is wonderful to be coming home to lead one of the world’s most respected agencies as it heads into a new era.”

The appointment has prompted a leadership restructure and comes after the resignation of Jim Gall, who has been CEO of Clemenger BBDO Melbourne Group, after more than a decade with the company.

Consolidation within Clemenger Group was forecast by its Chair, Rob Morgan, more than two years ago.

 “I do think we will have more consolidation in terms of the smaller companies becoming more closely related to the bigger ones. Whether they are ‘divisionalised’ depends on a number of things,” Morgan said.

Julian Bell, Clemenger BBDO Melbourne’s managing partner, will become Managing Director, Melbourne, for the Australia-wide company. Bell will join the Clemenger BBDO Australia board with Bassil, Jim Curtis, Jacqueline Witts, Paul Rees-Jones, Brent Kerby, Craig Roberts and Richard Schloeffel.

Timar said Gall had made “an outstanding contribution in leading business and cultural transformation” across the Group’s companies. “We’re sad to see him leave. He’s maintained an open dialogue this year about his intentions to pursue his own business interests and helped us identify Dani Bassil as the right person to take Clemenger BBDO forward.”

Clemenger BBDO Melbourne lost the NAB account mid-last year, ending a 15-year relationship.