MRM CEO Kate MacNevin adds title of chairwoman
McCann Worldgroup has implemented a senior leadership alignment across its global agency networks. Chris Macdonald has taken on the role of chairman and CEO of McCann, the advertising agency brand, and Harjot Singh has been promoted to global chief strategy Officer of McCann.
Macdonald, who previously served as president, Advertising and Allied brands, for McCann, will now focus on leading the advertising network, along with Singh, previously CSO for McCann Worldgroup EMEA.
The two global appointments follow other recent moves by incoming McCann Worldgroup CEO Bill Kolb to underline the importance of the individual agency brands in the global McCann Worldgroup integrated marketing services network.
“The foundation of McCann Worldgroup, since its inception over 20 years ago, has always been to offer both best-in-class expertise through each agency and best-in-class integrated solutions to meet our clients’ needs,” Kolb said. “The work, the talent, and most critically, the creative effectiveness that we have been recognized for–more than any other network over the last five years–must flourish within each of our agency brands. And each of these brands has its own unique culture while all sharing the same McCann Worldgroup core mission, values, and methodologies.”
Macdonald said, “I have been lucky enough to work for McCann in many different roles over the last 15 years. McCann has an incredibly rich history of creativity and innovation, partnering with some of world’s biggest and best brands and is full of fantastically talented people. I look forward to building the best future for our clients, partners and all our people around the world.”
Suzanne Powers, global president of McCann Worldgroup, and global CSO, said, “Harjot is one of the world’s best and brightest. His strategic chops, deep passion for bringing out the best in our talented teams, and overall leadership abilities make him the perfect choice to lead McCann into the future strategically. Further, through this appointment, we now have in place the industry’s top leadership across all of our agency networks, further cementing our belief that the triumvirate of leadership (creative, strategy and business) leads to best-in-class creative effective work.”
On Singh’s appointment, Macdonald added, “Colleagues and clients consistently credit him with bringing clarity and delivering measurable impact. He has led our network in Europe to an unprecedented industry record of being ranked the most creatively effective agency network in the region for five consecutive years and I am delighted that he will be bringing that track record of success to the global McCann team.”
In addition to the current promotions of Macdonald and Singh, Kate MacNevin, the CEO for MRM, will add the title of chairwoman.
“Kate has one of the most passionate, deliberative and exceptional minds in all of marketing,” said Kolb. “She is respected not just among our partners, but across every level of our organization because of her relentless dedication and determination. I have worked with Kate for over a decade, and she has earned this role based on her historic success of advancing growth, capability expansion and overall leadership of our global MRM team.”
Director Mike Egan Joins Good Behavior
Good Behavior, the comedy commercial production outfit recently launched by director Pete Marquis and his partners Victoria Guenier and Adam Lawson, have brought Mike Egan on board as the company’s first director signing. This also happens to be Egan’s first signing for commercial representation; he has been helming spots freelance for almost four years. Egan has a deep affinity for oddball characters who find themselves in unusual circumstances. He likes capturing these characters with simple, yet dynamic images that let them shine through in all their glory and connect with audiences.
“The Good Behavior name is more than just a name,” said Egan. “The things they care about and the things I care about are like a Venn diagram, circles sitting atop one another. And I love the fact that their logo is a baby cherub smoking a cigarette!”
The last two or three years, whenever I found a piece of work out in the world that I loved, when I tried to find out who made it, all roads led to Pete. I’ve been biding my time for quite a while, being very deliberate about my career, building my reel, having lots of conversations in the business. I had faith that the right folks would find me. Good Behavior finally did.”
Marquis said, “After seeing Mike’s work, I got the sense he wasn’t out to make ads for ad’s sake. He’s not going for the easy laugh or cliche construct. His left of center point of view is on full display in his work. And still he’s able to impart originality in a way that enhances the concept without getting in the way of it. I want to see more of Mike’s work out there in the world. And I want to see more of Mike. I’m thrilled to have an excuse to make both those things happen.”
Egan developed his... Read More