His promotion is part of the agency's move to bolster its creative department on the back of a series of wins including Britannic, Hoverspeed and Moschino Fragrances.
The appointment frees up John Washington, chairman of the agency and executive creative director, to focus on the agency's overall operational areas and specific client accounts.
Michael Richards, WFCA chief executive, said: "Greg has made a fantastic contribution since he joined us and his promotion is a natural next step. It forms part of our overall business development strategy and our clear focus on working with blue-chip clients."
Phitidis said he is looking to recruit "a hot, unpretentious middleweight team" to build upon the 10-strong department as the agency prepares to work on a number of other as-yet-unannounced, blue-chip account wins.
Phitidis said he spent the back end of the 90s discovering that a truly integrated agency did not exist in London, neither at above-the-line agencies looking to hold on to budgets that were drifting towards DM nor at below-the-line agencies hoping to get some TV.
"The truth is neither had the right mix of people to deliver. But here at our agency integration is at the heart, and we have the work and the people to prove it. Becoming creative director at a place like this gives me an open brief to challenge conventions, which hits the spot for a non-mainstream person like me," he said.
Phitidis, 33, started his copywriting career at South Africa's leading above-the-line agency, The Jupiter Drawing Room, in 1993. Most recently, he was at Joshua before joining WFCA Integrated in 2000.
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