LIDA has appointed Chris Lawson and James Nester as its new senior integrated team.

This follows fast on the heels of the promotion of Lisa Thomas to M & C Saatchi Group CEO earlier this month, and signals a continued focus on fostering an integrated approach so that all LIDA creative is media neutral.
Lawson and Nester will bring their expertise to bear on all LIDA accounts, which includes brands such as Boots, MINI, and East Midlands Trains.

Lawson and Nester are behind a number of internationally awarded campaigns for Ford, Land Rover, FedEx and Kern Precision Scales. Their 2009 work won five accolades including Gold at the 2009 DMA’s, was recognised at the Campaign BIG Awards, Eurobest and Cannes Lions and will feature in the forthcoming 2010 D&AD annual.

From 2001 to 2005 Lawson worked as a freelance art director at agencies including AMV BBDO, Ogilvy One, Publicis, RPM, and TBWA. Nester was creative director at The Alpha Design & Marketing Group, founding editor of Business Solutions magazine, writer and director of several award nominated short films and freelance copywriter for McCann Eriksson, COI, BD Network and Profero.

Shaun Moran, creative director at LIDA, says: “Many teams claim to be integrated, but with great work spanning all media, Chris and James actually are. Their multi-award-winning work for Kern shows how proactive they are. They found the client, wrote the brief, managed the account and produced all the work themselves. This passion for 360° thinking will further strengthen our media-neutral offering.”