Nick Cleaver

CEO, 303 MullenLowe Australia

It’s a pleasure to be able write a reference for Rich who was our ECD from 2013 to 2018. He was also during this time a shareholder of the company.

Rich is a highly intelligent, articulate and deeply thoughtful creative. He is capable of inspiring and guiding teams to pursue outstanding creative work and is equally capable of producing ground breaking ideas himself.

He’s made a fantastic contribution to the growth of our agency over the last five years and he’s been an invaluable member of our leadership team.

Under his leadership, 303 MullenLowe has significantly expanded its creative department and client portfolio and produced some brilliant campaigns for clients like Budget Direct, Audi, TK Maxx, Magellan, Unilever and Harley Davidson, amongst many others.

Rich is a truly integrated creative thinker and as such he attracted a diverse range of creative talent into the agency. He is a champion of great ideas, in any channel or form, and has led the charge as we have endeavored to be true to our purpose and create campaigns that deliver an unfair share of attention.

As importantly, Rich happens to be one of the nicest guys in advertising and so is easy and fun to work with, never losing sight of the lighter side of life even under the pressure of tight deadlines.

As sad as we are to see Rich leave us, we’re excited to see what he does next – he’s a true talent, a passionate leader and top bloke.

Jonathan Kerr

Director of Marketing and Digital at Budget Direct

Working with a great creative director for me means working with someone who can tackle our business problems in a way that creates famous ideas for our brand that delivers results. Working with Richard over the past 4 years and having him lead the creative product for Budget Direct has been testament to that. 

Our business is large, complex, with ambitious targets in a highly competitive category; it’s not a place for creative divas nor the faint of heart. Whilst Richard always brings a strategic and creative point of view to the table, he also has the rare ability to see things from the perspective of other stakeholders and isn’t precious. 

Richard’s honest and direct leadership style has helped forge an agency-client relationship culture where members of both my team and his agency are never afraid to ask questions of one another in pursuit of the best result. 

I’d undoubtedly consider Richard to be in possession of the qualities that would make him one of Australia’s top creatives.

Tony Dunseath

Managing Partner & Client Services Director, 303 MullenLowe

AVP Marketing, TK Maxx

Richard’s record speaks for itself - as a creative he has delivered award winning work, as a leader he has helped build agencies and as a thinker he is the kind of creative I love working with. A true curator of ideas; he is humble enough to listen to everyone’s opinion, but determined enough never to rest until he has found the killer insight or idea.

He is a true craftsman when it comes to delivery and has steered many highly complex projects through the perils of production to famed outcomes.

I worked with him both at 303 and BMF.

Remi Couzelas

Global Planner Reserve Brands, Diageo

As a senior planner at 303 MullenLowe, I worked alongside Richard for almost three years on numerous client projects and new business pitches. Rich is one of the most gifted writers I've had the chance to work with and as a creative leader of the agency I have always loved his approach - what I call the "interested and interesting", a savant mix of listening and guiding. Like everyone else who's had the chance to work with Rich will tell you, he is one of the nicest guys around! Kick it & Rip it.

Krista Song

Group Account Director, 303 MullenLowe

Having worked with Richard for around 4 years at 303 MullenLowe, we developed a very strong working relationship. We both led a number of significant Federal Government campaigns together, which as anyone well versed in these knows are extremely demanding in terms of tight timings, logistics, attention to detail and so on. 

As an ECD, Richard was very approachable and collaborative, avoiding politics and egos. He has a strong creative vision and we developed some great integrated campaigns together. I can genuinely say I enjoyed working with Rich and highly recommend him both to prospective clients and industry people alike.

Meredith Raskopf

Senior Account Director at 303 MullenLowe

I worked with Richard for over three years and his encouraging, collaborative nature helped grow me into the account director I am today. He doesn’t allow roles and titles to get in the way of good work and genuinely values a great idea, no matter where it comes from. His approach should be an example for other ECD’s in the industry.