McKinney Promotes Jim Russell to Chief Innovation Officer

Russell will take innovation role beyond the province of digital, getting McKinney to great ideas, faster

News provided by

Oct 04, 2011, 10:00 ET

DURHAM, N.C., Oct. 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- McKinney announced today that Jim Russell, previously partner/director of digital strategy, has been named to the new position of partner/chief innovation officer.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110517/CL03076LOGO)

"It's fitting that the guy who wove digital into the fabric of McKinney will now lead us to great ideas, faster," said McKinney Chairman and CEO Brad Brinegar. "Creating this role for Jim simply gooses our existing orientation toward reinvention. McKinney's success is all about constantly seeking a better way so innovation is central to our future success."

"I've clearly got the best job in the business," affirmed Russell. "I get to explore what's next, in the physical and digital worlds, for our clients and for us, furthering our passion for innovation across three broad areas: emerging technologies and platforms, new ways to monetize IP and co-venturing startups. All in a day's work and all designed to get us to great ideas, faster. We're more agile than ever, building our own proprietary technology and taking cues from our friends in the software world with the McKinney Ten Percent, a program encouraging employees to dedicate 10% of their time to innovation. It's a great time to be in advertising and to be at McKinney."

Since joining McKinney in 2003 as director of interactive strategy, Russell has helped the agency focus on new, powerful ways for brands and people to connect. He created the structures that helped reinvent McKinney as the first major agency to integrate digital into existing disciplines rather than as a separate business unit. As a result, 90% of McKinney's frontline staff today is active in digital efforts, and McKinney's structure and work have been noted by Forrester Research. In addition, Russell's leadership helped McKinney win 12 MIXX Awards, more than any agency of the 145 agencies who have won this award since the first show in 2005. Last year, he helped the agency standardize creative technology, a strength that's netted McKinney top honors, including MIXX, OMMA and FWA. He is now steering the McKinney Ten Percent.

Russell joined McKinney in 2003 from Circle.com in Boston, where his work for the online launch of the MINI Cooper was named Most Innovative Marketing Campaign of the Year by Business 2.0. He began his career at Accenture, first working in artificial intelligence and then at their Center for Strategic Technology in Palo Alto. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Supporting Resources:

Video Interview: http://youtu.be/qakX3Sxl0LE
Headshot: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mckinneydurham/6208559175/in/photostream

About McKinney

McKinney is an independent advertising agency leading the evolution of the advertising industry in a post-digital world.

Founded in 1969, the Durham, NC-based agency is recognized for having built one of the most innovative business models in the industry, one that blurs the lines between traditional and digital media. As a result, McKinney has been recognized as one of the best agencies in the country by Advertising Age and one of a handful of agencies setting the standard for creativity by ONE Magazine. McKinney's work has earned 24 Effie Awards over the past eight years, which ranks McKinney ninth of more than 192 agencies winning the American Marketing Association's recognition of communication-driven business success.

The agency's clients include Abbott Nutrition's EAS, Gold's Gym, Big Boss Brewing, Lenovo, Nationwide Insurance, Partnership for a Drug-Free America, CenturyLink, Radio Flyer, Sherwin-Williams, Brown-Forman Corporation and Zenph Sound Innovations.

Media Contact
Janet Northen
Partner/EVP Director Agency Communications
919.313.4062
[email protected]
@jnorthen

SOURCE McKinney