Havas Chicago has hired John Norman as chief creative officer. His work over the years spans such brands as Walmart, Nike, Coca-Cola and Gatorade.
With more than 25 years of visual storytelling experience in advertising and design, Norman arrives at Havas Chicago after nearly five years at Translation, where he served as chief creative officer and partner. Prior to this, he worked as CCO at The Martin Agency, TBWAChiatDay and Wieden+Kennedy—the latter being where he launched and led Coca-Cola’s “Open Happiness” campaign and the “Happiness Factory” franchise of spots; many World Cup campaigns, including the groundbreaking “Write the Future” work for Nike; and the prestigious “+HP” campaign. Before his agency roles, Norman worked in design at Nike and Benetton Group.
As CCO of Havas Chicago, Norman will oversee creative development for the agency’s roster of brands, including Hefty, Reynolds, Orbitz, Moen, Mike’s Hard Lemonade and Cracker Barrel. He is charged with delivering creative content that makes an impactful difference to these brands and their consumers through data-driven storytelling on modern platforms.
“The Chicago office of Havas Creative North America plays a unique role in our creative agency portfolio—one that is passionate about modern creativity on modern platforms and determined to find new and interesting ways to blend the craft of storytelling with the power of culture,” said Paul Marobella, chairman and CEO, Havas Creative North America. “Our goal in hiring a CCO was to seek a top talent—a respected and award-winning executive who is also a good fit for this mission.”
Marobella described Norman as “an incredible addition to the Chicago office, the Havas creative team in North America and the local Chicago creative community.”
Norman said of his new roost, “The agency’s relentless pursuit to help American brands find their voice in a modern world is a perfect fit for my design-thinking approach for solving creative and business challenges. My goal is to build upon Havas Chicago’s heritage as an unconventional agency—from the art on the walls to the people to what we do—and use the power of hybrid storytelling to create ideas with simple human truths, told with provocative single-minded narratives across all media channels. Havas has built the assets and cultivated the culture; curating and connecting the dots will be the focus.”
