McCann Worldgroup Strengthens Global Creative Leadership

Rob Reilly Joins McCann Worldgroup as Global Creative Chairman

Linus Karlsson Named Creative Chairman Of Commonwealth and In Addition Forms Utility And Entertainment Company

Andreas Dahlqvist named Commonwealth Chief Creative Officer and President of McCann Creative Leadership Council

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Jan 06, 2014, 09:17 ET

NEW YORK, Jan. 6, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- McCann Worldgroup today announced that it has hired Rob Reilly as Global Creative Chairman, and promoted Linus Karlsson to Creative Chairman of Commonwealth, the McCann Worldgroup agency dedicated to the global Chevrolet account. Also, Andreas Dahlqvist has been named Chief Creative Officer of Commonwealth and President of the McCann Creative Leadership Council. Karlsson and Dahlqvist respectively had been Chief Creative Officer and Deputy Chief Creative Officer, Global Brands, McCann Erickson.

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In addition to his Commonwealth responsibilities, Karlsson will also be forming a new venture to be unveiled in the spring of 2014.

Reilly joins McCann Worldgroup from Crispin Porter + Bogusky, where he served as Partner/Worldwide Chief Creative Officer. In his new role, Reilly will be responsible for creative oversight of the McCann brand globally as well as developing multiplatform approaches by leveraging McCann Worldgroup's broad capabilities and communications resources to help clients meet their creative challenges with precision and impact.

As President of the McCann Creative Leadership Council, Dahlqvist, in conjunction with Reilly, will be responsible for inspiring creative excellence throughout the network.

Harris Diamond, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, McCann Worldgroup, said, "Rob is an incredible talent. He understands how to navigate today's attention-challenged, media-fragmented consumer world by developing and extending creativity that has the sharpest strategic intent across any and all platforms, cultures, and geographies. We look forward to Rob driving all our resources and disciplines together in a creatively synchronized way to solve brand challenges for our clients."

Diamond continued, "With the addition of Rob and with Linus and Andreas' new roles—teamed with Luca Lindner (President, McCann Worldgroup) and our other Worldgroup creative leadership that includes Prasoon Joshi, Washington Olivetto, Joyce King Thomas, Monica Moro, Leandro Raposo and John Mescall, as well as the rest of our creative teams around the world—we continue to strengthen our focus on global client leadership and our commitment to delivering McCann's highest standards of creative excellence."

Karlsson said, "McCann is a very exciting place today. It's become a stronghold for great creative talent and, with the addition of a proven creative leader like Rob, it opens up new exciting doors for me. I will assume the Creative Chairmanship of Commonwealth and, in addition, with the support of Harris and IPG, will launch something entirely new this spring. I couldn't be more thrilled."

Dahlqvist said, "I am very excited to get the chance to keep building our creative product for a great company like General Motors and an iconic brand like Chevrolet. And the opportunity as President of the Creative Leadership Council to promote, share and implement best creative practices across all of our global and local brands is not only a chance to build on the creative momentum we have had over the last couple of years, but also the pleasure to work more closely with the fantastic creative talent we have in place around the world."

Reilly joined CP+B in 2002, after spending a decade at a number of New York ad agencies. He began his CP+B career as a copywriter, creating some of the most talked about campaigns in history. In his role as Worldwide Chief Creative Officer, he drove the creative vision for all of CP+B's clients around the globe. A highly-awarded creative, Reilly's work has been recognized at Cannes with multiple Titanium and Grand Prix Lions as well as three Interactive Agency of the Year awards. He has served on a number of industry awards juries, including as President of the Cannes Titanium and Integrated Jury. Reilly is also a member of the Cannes Chimera and the Facebook Creative Council, a group that advises on advertising product ideas and agency concerns.

Reilly said, "The opportunity was hard to resist when the CEO looks you in the eye and says, 'I want creativity to permeate everything we do.' That is really all you can ask for. Then it is up to you and the people you surround yourself with to get it done. The chance to work with my friend Linus and the rest of the super talented people of McCann Worldgroup made my decision very easy. Plus, I am returning to the agency that gave me my first shot as a junior copywriter almost twenty years ago. I learned from some really great people about hard work and doing things the right way. That's the kind of stuff that stays with you."

McCann Worldgroup's awards performance in 2013 resulted in it being recognized by Advertising Age as the 3^rd most creatively awarded network with Australia as the most awarded agency in the world, and by the EFFIE awards as the 3^rd most effective network as well. McCann Worldgroup was also recognized as the most awarded Healthcare network in the world; as "Network of the Year" at The Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity; as "Network of the Year" in Eastern Europe at the Golden Drum Awards; as "Agency of the Year" for New York at the 2013 Art Directors Club Awards; for its phenomenal showing at the Cannes Lions Festival, with an unprecedented 5 Grand Prix; honored as the most awarded network at the 2013 Webby awards; recognized as the most awarded agency and campaign at D&AD; and received Best of Show at the Global One Show awards.

Along with this record of creative recognition, McCann in 2013 added several new global and regional clients, including the consolidation of the Chevrolet business globally, and the addition of Zurich Insurance and SABIC to the network's global client roster that includes Coca-Cola, General Mills, L'Oreal, MasterCard, and Nestle. McCann also added several new U.S. clients, including the U.S. Postal Service, Lockheed Martin, and Jose Cuervo.

McCann Worldgroup, part of Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG), is a leading global marketing company with 23,000 employees in more than 120 countries, comprising McCann Erickson (advertising), MRM (digital marketing/relationship management), Momentum (event marketing/promotion), McCann Health (professional/dtc communications), CRAFT (global adaptation and production), UM (media management), Weber Shandwick (public relations), and FutureBrand (consulting/design).

SOURCE McCann Worldgroup