Pete Johnson is joining McCann’s New York office as EVP, global executive creative director. He will work hand-in-hand with Shayne Millington and Pierre Lipton, co-chief creative officers, McCann New York.
Johnson joins McCann after spending five-plus years as an ECD at Deutsch, New York and more than four years at Arnold, Boston where he created iconic work for clients such as Progressive, Reebok, Sony, Booking.com and Jack Daniel’s to name a few. Prior to Deutsch and Arnold, Johnson held senior creative roles at DigitasLBi and Tribal DDB.
“We’re thrilled to be able to add a senior creative with the talent, intelligence and taste, and such a deep understanding of emotional truth, that Pete has,” shared Millington and Lipton in a joint statement. “Pete’s writing spans an impressively wide range of categories and genres and he has a unique ability to tap into the unique voice that expresses the soul of each brand he touches.”
Johnson’s appointment continues the expansion of McCann New York’s creative operations that was announced in November. At the time, Millington and Lipton were elevated to co-CCOs at McCann New York, overseeing creative on all accounts, including Microsoft and Mastercard. Millington and Lipton assumed these roles after Sean Bryan and Tom Murphy were elevated to co-CCOs of McCann North America. McCann at the time also promoted two more senior creatives, Caprice Yu and Cristina Rodriguez Reina, to global executive creative directors.
“McCann New York has been producing some of the smartest, most thoughtful creative work in the world, and they have an amazing roster of innovative, risk-taking clients, so I am just thrilled to be able to join the team here,” said Johnson.
SCHROM x Yacht Club and Be Electric Studios Launch Electric XR for Virtual Production
SCHROM x Yacht Club, a full-service live-action, tabletop, and postproduction company, has teamed with Be Electric Studios, a soundstage, equipment rental, and virtual production company, to launch Electric XR, a virtual production collective.
Industry veteran Thomas Rossano will lead the new venture, which provides advanced virtual production solutions across multiple facilities. He brings over 25 years of experience in live-action, tabletop, postproduction and talent curation to enhance Electric XR’s offerings as a resource for brands and agencies, as well as other production companies in need of virtual production solutions. Additionally Rossano continues to serve as EP at XR New York (XR-NY), a role he’s held since December 2022. SCHROM x Yacht Club originally established XR-NY to help provide XR services for third-party rentals. While XR-NY will continue to function independently for SCHROM X Yacht Club, it now operates under the Electric XR umbrella.
Rossano’s expertise spans producing live-action commercials, branded content, interactive and experiential content. In addition to leading Electric XR, he holds responsibilities at SCHROM x Yacht Club which include driving business development, collaborating with sales reps and expanding the company’s creative talent network. Rossano’s career includes serving as an exec producer at Hungry Man for about 11 years, right from that company’s inception. He then went on to become a partner at Station Film where he also had a lengthy tenure. Later he was a partner at PRISM. Then after the pandemic hit, he became a freelance EP for nearly two years, looking into opportunities in virtual production, which led him to XR NY and now Electric XR. Over the years, he has produced high-profile... Read More