Diane Jackson has been promoted to chief production officer at DDB Chicago, effective immediately. Jackson will continue to lead the agency’s integrated production department and will still report to John Maxham, chief creative officer of the Chicago office.
During Jackson’s first stint at DDB Chicago from 2000 to 2003, she produced iconic work for Energizer, McDonald’s, Anheuser-Busch, JC Penney and Exxon Mobil. Then, for four years, she served as director of integrated production at Energy BBDO in Chicago. In 2007 Jackson returned to DDB as EVP, director of integrated production, where she expanded the agency’s production department across multiple platforms including building content creation capabilities and digital mobile social production expertise.
Jackson has built an award-winning production team that truly represents the power of talent diversity. Most recently, Jackson executive-produced McDonald’s “Twitter Super Bowl Takeover,” which earned the client the distinction of “most retweeted brand ever in a single day” during the 2015 Super Bowl. The campaign has earned multiple awards, including three Cannes Lions, an LIA Gold and a Gold CLIO.
She also produced the much loved and awarded “The Man and the Dog” film for the Fundacion Argentina de Transplante Hepatico in 2015 with the DDB Argentina office.
Other career highlights include Jackson’s work for the Clinton Foundation’s 10-year anniversary celebration that took place in three countries and included segments with numerous celebrities such as Barbara Streisand, Jay Z, Tony Blair and former President Bill Clinton himself.
Jackson led an international team to produce Anheuser Busch-InBev’s “Bud House,” the first-ever global online real-time reality series. Produced in South Africa, the show was at the core of the client’s sponsorship of the FIFA World Cup, where Jackson led a team of over 100 people who churned out more than 200 episodes. The show was honored with an OMMA award in 2010.
Within months of the inauguration of President Obama, Jackson secured his campaign manager David Plouffe to partner with DDB Chicago for a presentation entitled “The Art of the Possible – The Audacity of Successful Brands.” The presentation was one of the highlights of the Cannes Lions Festival, with delegates spilling over into multiple screening rooms to hear from Plouffe and DDB’s Bob Scarpelli. The film from this event won the prestigious Gold BDA Design award.
Jackson also served the city of Chicago when she executive-produced the films for Chicago’s 2016 Olympic bid in Copenhagen with Mayor Richard Daley.
Jackson serves as a speaker at the industry’s top events and conferences such as the AICP Show, The Women in Film Forum, and Advertising Week NYC. Jackson is the recipient of the Distinction in Advertising award from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (London) and received DDB’s Fasules, Sharpe, Yovetich Leadership Award in 2010, the first producer ever to receive that honor. In 2012 Jackson served as a judge at the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival. She also serves on the board of the VCU Brandcenter.
Paul Gunning, president and CEO of DDB Chicago, commented, “Not only has Diane been critical to sustaining DDB Chicago’s growth and profile in the industry, but she has also been formative in strategizing for the entire network. Her influence will continue to permeate the company both locally and globally.”
