180NY has named Mikko Pietilä as its executive creative director and part of the agency’s management team reporting directly to president Evan Weissbrot and managing director Angela Kosniewski.
Pietilä comes directly from TBWAHelsinki where as ECD/partner since 2014 he led the agency to become one of the most internationally awarded shops in Europe. TBWAHelsinki has won consecutive Cannes Lions (2019, 2020, 2021), consecutive One Show awards (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021), consecutive Effie’s (from 2016 to 2022), two D&AD Pencils in 2021, and has been lauded as Eurobest’s Country Agency of the Year in 2018, 2020 and 2021. Additionally, the agency was honored as Finnish Agency of the Year in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Under Pietilä’s creative leadership, TBWAHelsinki has more than doubled in size, growing from 70 people to a 170-person creative powerhouse. Pietilä’s recent campaigns of note include the “My Helsinki Airport” which encouraged travelers to personalize the airport’s new main terminal official sign with their own name, and the Burger King “Love Conquers All” initiative which featured the Burger King kissing Ronald McDonald in a salute to Helsinki Pride. During his time TBWAHelsinki also produced the powerful outdoor campaign – celebrating freedom of the press–dominating Trump’s route to the Helsinki summit with Putin created by newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. Pietilä’s career also includes creative leadership roles at Valve, Rehab and Isobar Helsinki, and board of director positions at startups YSUB and Arcelevn.
“Mikko’s rejection of creative conventions and willingness to experiment, innovate, bravely tell brand stories that remain true to what audiences actually care about, and overall vision for modern craft, make him the perfect fit [at 180NY],” stated Weissbrot. “Mikko will significantly enhance our creative firepower while beautifully complementing 180NY’s rich, existing capabilities. Mikko’s presence marks the beginning of a significant creative expansion for 180 where he’ll be rounding out our creative roster to prepare for growth with existing and new clients.”
The current 180NY client roster includes Conagra, Sony Electronics, Slim Jim and DHL.
“I firmly believe a strong internal agency culture–one that harbors and respects individual freedom and collectively embraces ideas and creativity as a whole–is the key to unlocking amazing work while growing brands and companies,” said Pietilä. “I’m more than excited to join the amazing 180 Global family and especially their New York office, known for radical innovation and culturally relevant brand experiences. The shape of the work we deliver is rapidly moving towards experiences and so is the shape of our working environment. Agencies that have global ecosystems and work seamlessly across markets with strong local hubs are the future.”
180NY managing director Kosniewski added, “We are an agency unlike any I’ve seen in my career for many reasons including relentless curiosity, a desire to experiment, and the ability to move incredibly fast to impact culture. Having Mikko, who is such an accomplished creative and innovator, captain a team built to constantly unearth trends allows us to amplify and accelerate our clients’ impact in culture.”
