He fills the position left vacant by the departure of Tony Weller several months ago.
WWAV Bristol managing director Nick Davies has made Schanche his first major signing after joining the agency last autumn from EHS Brann.
"I'm delighted to have secured someone of such proven talent -- someone who will be integral to my ambitions and vision for this agency," he said.
Schanche joins WWAV Bristol having worked at Tequila as creative director until just after the merger of Tequila and TBWA\GGT. He was previously at Wunderman Worldwide as creative group head.
"The combination of team, leadership, ability and the WWAV Group capability gives me real confidence that we can do some truly great work here and that I personally can make a real difference," Schanche said.
WWAV Bristol's client list includes Chelsea Building Society, British Red Cross, Alzheimer's Society, Avis Europe and Guide Dogs.
Ian Haworth, Rapp Collins Europe creative director, said: "Nick is a single-minded, ideas-driven creative and as such fits perfectly with our WWAV Group creative strategy.
"Add him to Nick Platt and Barney Cockerell in London, Pete Chase in Leeds and the Murphy brothers in Edinburgh and you have as fine a collection of creatives intent on championing the 'big idea' as you could find anywhere."
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