Frankfurt - Saatchi & Saatchi Germany is continuing to build the Executive Management Team under the leadership of CEO Christian Rätsch, with the announcements of two key appointments.

Bert Peulecke, an award-winning and experienced creative, is coming on board as the new Chief Creative Officer (CCO). Together with his team of 70 creatives, the 42-year old will be responsible for the creative work for all German Saatchi & Saatchi clients. These include CosmosDirekt, AIDA, Union Investment, Merck and Procter & Gamble.

Multiple Cannes-winner Peulecke has been working in the industry for almost 20 years. With his experience as Head of Creative and his cross-industry expertise, he is seen as a guarantee for excellent creative work. “Bert Peulecke will continue to develop our creative performance. I am very pleased that we were able to gain him for Saatchi & Saatchi with our culture and our ideas," states Christian Rätsch, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Germany. “This step underlines our commitment to being one of the leading creative agencies in Germany.”

Peulecke is moving from the owner-run agency thjnk to join Saatchi & Saatchi. Most recently, he held the position of Partner and Executive Creative Director (ECD) at thjnk and was responsible for the business in the Berlin office. Before that, he was CCO at Heye & Partner in Munich. Paulecke has also already managed the creative business of DDB Berlin in the position of ECD. Here, he achieved one of the all-time best results at Cannes and worked his way up to Number 2 in the “Big Won Report” ranking of the most successful Creative Directors in the world. Other stations in his career were: oysterbay, Springer & Jacoby, Jung von Matt and Scholz & Friends, all in Hamburg. His former clients include companies like Audi, Deutsche Telekom, McDonalds, Nike, Vattenfall Energy and Volkswagen.

Simon Thun has been appointed to the newly created position of Chief Strategy Officer. As of April 2014, the 38-year old will be responsible for the strategic development of all clients in Germany and will be working from the Düsseldorf office.

As an acknowledged brand and digital expert, Thun has over 13 years of experience as a Management Consultant and possesses the necessary competence to align Saatchi & Saatchi even stronger with the needs of the clients than was previously the case. Christian Rätsch, CEO Saatchi & Saatchi Germany, is convinced: “As an agency, we can only generate a real added-value for our clients if we understand their business and can communicate with them at eye-level in an advisory capacity. This way, we are able to develop creative ideas that are perfectly tailored to their strategic goals. With his strategic way of thinking, Simon Thun is just the right person for this.”

Prior his move to Saatchi & Saatchi, Simon Thun was an Associate Partner at the international brand strategy and marketing consultancy Prophet as well as the Managing Director of their German offices.  He joined Prophet in 2011 due to the sale of Noshokaty, Döring & Thun (NDT) in Berlin, of which he was a founding partner and which advanced to one of the leading consultancies for strategic cooperation and digital transformation in just five years. Another milestone in his career was BBDO Consulting (now Batten & Company) in Düsseldorf. This is where he first met Christian Rätsch; they advised national as well as international clients together.

Thun has extensive experience in the development of brand, marketing and corporate strategies for B2B as well as B2C companies. His former clients include global Blue Chips such as Allianz, Bertelsmann, BMW, eBay, General Motors, Metro, Siemens, Vattenfall, Volkswagen as well as German companies like Commerzbank, Deutsche Telekom and Postbank.

He is also in demand as a visiting author and lecturer. Simon Thun has written several articles about strategic marketing topics and has contributed to various reference books. In addition, he regularly holds lectures about brands and marketing topics.