Design Bridge SG creative team sees leadership shuffle

Design Bridge Singapore has reshuffled its creative leadership team, promoting Philip Dall (pictured left) to ECD. In his new role, Dall will be responsible for the creative work for clients including Zespri, Unilever, Mondelēz and Treasury Wine Estates. He will also work closely with fellow ECDs to ensure an exceptional standard of design is maintained across all studios. He reports to Alexandra Cerruti (pictured second from left), MD, Design Bridge Singapore.

Dall has been with Design Bridge Singapore for close to 10 years. He entered the agency in 2013 as a senior designer and was promoted to creative director in 2018. Over his time there, Dall has worked with brands such as Colgate, Smirnoff and Guinness, among others. Dall said that he never thought he would become the ECD of one of the agency’s studios. “This is testament to our commitment to grow talent from within, making us uniquely positioned to deliver best in class work for our clients,” he added.

Dall replaces Tim Siro (pictured second from right), who has stepped down from his management responsibilities to focus on creatively leading projects within the agency. Siro has been part of the senior management team in Singapore since 2011 and was appointed ECD in 2014. Over the course of 11 years with Design Bridge, Siro elevated the quality of creative work and grew and developed a talented team.

Additionally, Design Bridge Singapore has promoted Jon Neal (pictured right) to the newly created role of leadership creative director. Neal formerly held the role of creative director and has been with the agency for five years. In his new role, Neal is responsible for driving three areas: recruitment and growth of talent; driving industry awareness of Design Bridge’s work and culture, and ensuring the work is captured and displayed effectively across PR and social media platforms and website.

According to the agency, each Design Bridge studio globally has promoted a creative director into this role. “As each of the agency’s studios has grown in size and complexity, Design Bridge has recognised that to successfully meet their drive for ambitious creativity, ECDs around the group need additional support to successfully lead the studios,” the agency said. Both Siro and Neal report to Dall.

Cerruti explained that Design Bridge Singapore is constantly evolving itself to adapt to its clients' brands and business' needs and this generational change in its creative leadership will help it be fit for future growth. “This new definition of responsibilities plays to Dall, Siro and Neal's individual strengths and passion points. Their common pursuit of ambitious creativity makes the future very exciting for all of us at Design Bridge,” she added.

Cerruti joined the agency in August 2020. Stepping up from her previous role as client services director, Cerruti has been leading the Singapore studio’s business and clients alongside Mark Budden, Design Bridge’s APAC regional chairman, and Siro. As the MD, Cerruti is responsible for driving revenue growth within existing client relationships in APAC, as well as steering the new business strategy for the Singapore studio’s business. Additionally, she is also tasked with driving the growth of people within her team and amplifying the agency’s philosophy and approach to design both internally and externally. 

Prior to working at Design Bridge, she helmed the role of a senior consultant at Carré Noir – Publicis’ French strategic design agency, for four years. Based in France, she relocated to Singapore in 2013 to join the client servicing team at Design Bridge, working her way up through the ranks to become client services director in 2018.

Separately, Last year February saw Joanne Tay take on the CEO role at digital and retail design agency 24, joining from Design Bridge where she was previously MD and partner. According to Tay's LinkedIn, she was with Design Bridge for 11 years, helming the roles of operations director and partner between 2011 to 2016, and senior project executive between 2003 to 2005. Tay has also worked at Brand Union, Bonsey Design, Hitachi Asia, and CNBC, during which she helmed the roles of client director, senior brand manager, and senior corporate communications executive.

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