DDB Chicago Adds John Kottmann as Chief Strategy Officer

CHICAGO, Nov. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- DDB Chicago announced today that John Kottmann has joined the agency as Chief Strategy Officer in charge of thought leadership across all agency clients and new business ventures

"In an industry that's increasingly about 'cool and shiny' downstream tactics and channels, John's about all that, plus he's about upstream business and brand-building ideas.  Moreover, he's got the gravitas and intelligence to not only explain them, but sell them," said Peter McGuinness, CEO DDB Chicago. "John is a great client relationship builder and a rain-maker when it comes to new business -- two things that come in handy, so I have no doubt that he'll make a big impact here."

Kottmann joins the agency from Ogilvy New York where he was Senior Partner, Managing Director of New Business Planning, working on new business and key clients including American Express and Gap.  

Prior to joining Ogilvy, Kottmann was EVP, Chief Strategy Officer for McCann where he co-managed a group of 40 planners and was best known as the global planning head for the award-winning MasterCard "Priceless" campaign and winning the U.S. Army business – twice.  In addition to his strategic roles, throughout his career Kottmann has been instrumental on the new business front, contributing to wins such as Lowe's, Marriott, Wendy's, Burger King, Bacardi, Staples, Nasdaq, Applebee's, Nikon, Major League Baseball, Smith Barney and more.

"I'm thrilled to be joining DDB Chicago and its clients," said Kottmann.  "It's an agency that's always had tremendous creativity at its core.  And there's a very talented, energized team there right now that's using creativity to solve clients' business challenges across the marketing mix."

"John, along with all our recent creative, digital and account hires, gets us one step closer to restoring DDB Chicago to its rightful place in our industry," added McGuinness.

About DDB

DDB Worldwide Communications Group Inc (www.ddb.com) ranks among the top five consolidated advertising and marketing services global networks, according to Advertising Age. Consistently one of the most creatively awarded networks globally, DDB was Campaign's 2009 Global Network of the Year and captured both the Cyber Grand Prix and Film Craft Grand Prix at the 2010 International Advertising Festival in Cannes. With more than 200 offices in over 90 countries, the DDB Group helps grow the value and influence of leading brands around the world. We believe that creativity is the most powerful force in business, allowing us to develop the ideas that people want to play with, participate in, and pass along. We call this Social Creativity, which results in ShareValue, the powerful combination of influence within social communities and tangible business performance. DDB Worldwide is part of Omnicom Group Inc. (OMC).

SOURCE DDB Worldwide Communications Group Inc