NEW YORK – January 8, 2014 – McCann Worldgroup has announced the hiring of Rob Reily as global creative chairman, as well as the promotion of Linus Karlsson to creative chairman of Commonwealth, and Andreas Dahlqvist to chief creative officer of Commonwealth and president of the McCann Creative Leadership Council.
Commonwealth is the McCann Worldgroup agency dedicated to the global Chevrolet account.
Karlsson had been chief creative officer, Global Brands, McCann Erickson, while Dahlqvist was deputy chief creative officer.
In addition to his Commonwealth responsibilities, Karlsson will also be forming a new venture to be unveiled in the spring of 2014.
Reilly joins McCann Worldgroup from Crispin Porter + Bogusky, where he served as partner and worldwide chief creative officer. In his new role, Reilly will be responsible for creative oversight of the McCann brand globally as well as developing multiplatform approaches by leveraging McCann Worldgroup’s broad capabilities and communications resources to help clients meet their creative challenges with precision and impact.
As president of the McCann Creative Leadership Council, Dahlqvist, in conjunction with Reilly, will be responsible for inspiring creative excellence throughout the network.
Harris Diamond, chairman and chief executive officer of McCann Worldgroup said "Rob is an incredible talent. He understands how to navigate today’s attention-challenged, media-fragmented consumer world by developing and extending creativity that has the sharpest strategic intent across any and all platforms, cultures, and geographies. We look forward to Rob driving all our resources and disciplines together in a creatively synchronized way to solve brand challenges for our clients."
Diamond continued, "With the addition of Rob and with Linus and Andreas’ new roles–teamed with Luca Lindner (McCann Worldgroup president) and our other Worldgroup creative leadership that includes Prasoon Joshi, Washington Olivetto, Joyce King Thomas, Monica Moro, Leandro Raposo and John Mescall, as well as the rest of our creative teams around the world–we continue to strengthen our focus on global client leadership and our commitment to delivering McCann’s highest standards of creative excellence."
Karlsson said, “McCann is a very exciting place today. It’s become a stronghold for great creative talent and, with the addition of a proven creative leader like Rob, it opens up new exciting doors for me. I will assume the Creative Chairmanship of Commonwealth and, in addition, with the support of Harris and IPG, will launch something entirely new this spring. I couldn’t be more thrilled.”
Dahlqvist said, “I am very excited to get the chance to keep building our creative product for a great company like General Motors and an iconic brand like Chevrolet. And the opportunity as President of the Creative Leadership Council to promote, share and implement best creative practices across all of our global and local brands is not only a chance to build on the creative momentum we have had over the last couple of years, but also the pleasure to work more closely with the fantastic creative talent we have in place around the world.”
Reilly joined CP+B in 2002, after spending a decade at a number of New York ad agencies. He began his CP+B career as a copywriter, creating some of the most talked about campaigns in history. In his role as Worldwide Chief Creative Officer, he drove the creative vision for all of CP+B’s clients around the globe. A highly-awarded creative, Reilly’s work has been recognized at Cannes with multiple Titanium and Grand Prix Lions as well as three Interactive Agency of the Year awards. He has served on a number of industry awards juries, including as President of the Cannes Titanium and Integrated Jury. Reilly is also a member of the Cannes Chimera and the Facebook Creative Council, a group that advises on advertising product ideas and agency concerns.
Reilly said, “The opportunity was hard to resist when the CEO looks you in the eye and says, ‘I want creativity to permeate everything we do.’ That is really all you can ask for. Then it is up to you and the people you surround yourself with to get it done. The chance to work with my friend Linus and the rest of the super talented people of McCann Worldgroup made my decision very easy. Plus, I am returning to the agency that gave me my first shot as a junior copywriter almost twenty years ago. I learned from some really great people about hard work and doing things the right way. That’s the kind of stuff that stays with you.”
