Joe Maglio has been named CEO of digital creative agency Barbarian. Maglio taking on duties at Barbarian is part of his new remit overseeing Cheil North America as its president. He will also continue to serve as CEO of media and influencer agency McKinney.
Cheil North American agencies include McKinney, Barbarian, CYLNDR, IRIS, Cheil Dallas, Cheil New York and Cheil Canada.
Over the past five years, Maglio has overseen a tripling in the size of McKinney, including marquee creative wins: Popeyes and Little Caesars. He also presided over the creation of McKinney Health and the acquisition of influencer agency August United. McKinney has since expanded its creator focused work, winning projects with Kroger, Microsoft, Choice Hotels, Popeyes and Samsung. Maglio has also focused on company culture, leading to a 92% employee retention rate in 2023.
Maglio comes aboard an existing senior leadership team at Barbarian which includes: Vince Lim, chief creative officer, and one of the creative directors (while at McCann NY) behind the “Fearless Girl” statue on Wall Street; Henry Fernandez, executive director of business development & marketing; and Jo Hayes, director of data insights & analytics, who created the industry’s first public workforce diversity database. Barbarian is an agency steeped in digital innovation, winning the Grand Prix in the inaugural Innovation Lions contest in 2013. The agency currently serves as social AOR for American Express.
“Joe’s ability to get all parts of an organization aligned and working towards a shared goal is what we need to achieve exceptional growth at Barbarian,” said Lim. “At Barbarian, we have the creds, we’ve done work for Fenty, JBL, even a fashion line of ‘Sickwear’ for Mucinex–what we need is organizational leadership to help our agency grow, and that’s exactly what Joe brings.”
Meanwhile joining Maglio at Cheil North America as head of growth is Bill Mattis, who also maintains his role as managing director at McKinney. As head of growth, Mattis will work to bring Cheil Worldwide’s Cheil Connec+ offering to market in the North American region. Mattis led McKinney’s new business and marketing department when the agency achieved 3X revenue growth. He helped secure client wins including Blue Diamond Almonds, Choice Hotels, Puma Running and Little Caesars.
“What Joe and Bill have been able to achieve at McKinney is nothing short of tremendous,” said Minsoo Kee, CEO and regional head, Cheil North America. “The North American market is served by huge holding companies that struggle to move at the speed of technology and lack a personalized touch. At the other end of the spectrum are independent agencies that are nimble, but may not have the resources, expertise or array of service offerings to meet the needs of today’s biggest brands. In the middle is Cheil Connec+. And with Joe and Bill leading Cheil North America, Cheil Connec+ is poised to serve brands in a way that no other agency model can.”
