Andrew Baiden Appointed The Playbook Md

Creative communications consultancy The Playbook has appointed Andrew Baiden as its new managing director.

Baiden will oversee the ten-strong agency team that looks after clients in sport, technology and consumer, and work on the strategic development of The Playbook alongside chairman Gavin Megaw.

Baiden has been in agency all his working career, most notably spending 17 years at the Red Consultancy, where he joined as the eighth member of staff and left as Group MD, building the business into a 150-strong top 25 UK agency in the process. Most recently, he worked as creative director at Newgate Communications.

At Red Consultancy he oversaw the consumer, technology and corporate business units, with major clients including Microsoft, Amazon, Activision, Samsung and Adobe. His teams launched Xbox, Wii-Fit, Call of Duty in the UK, and he ran multiple campaigns for brands such as Ladbrokes, MSN and Expedia.

Baiden will take over from previous managing director Eddie May, who was brought on board to establish The Playbook in June 2016 before pursuing new challenges.

Over the last 18 months May and the team have delivered campaigns for a host of clients including the Henley Royal Regatta, the NFL, and the England & Wales Cricket Board.

Commenting on his new role, Andrew Baiden said: “The Playbook is in great shape and has already achieved award winning work in its first 18 months, so this is a perfect time to take over the baton at this point in its development.  We aim to strengthen the brand in its core areas as well as developing creative campaigns for new and existing clients and work closely with the rest of the Hanover Group.”