A month after leaving the agency where he spent more than a decade, Crispin Porter & Bogusky chief creative Rob Reilly has resurfaced at McCann, where he will become global creative chairman in March. The move is a homecoming of sorts for Mr. Reilly, who was a junior copywriter at the agency in the mid '90s working on Coca-Cola.
Agency News
A Month After Leaving CP&B, Rob Reilly Bound for McCann
Takes Global Creative Chairman Post; Linus Karlsson Shifts to Commonwealth
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The shift coincides with a reshuffling of the creative ranks at
the IPG agency. Linus Karlsson, who was chief creative officer of
global brands at McCann Erickson, moves to creative chairman
of Commonwealth, while Andreas Dahlqvist, who
was deputy chief creative officer of global brands, becomes chief
creative officer at Commonwealth and president of the McCann Creative Leadership Council.
Commonwealth is McCann's dedicated agency for General Motors'
Chevrolet account. The McCann Creative Leadership Council is an
internal group responsible for inspiring creative excellence
throughout the McCann Worldgroup network.
Mr. Karlsson will also be forming, with the blessings of IPG and
McCann Chairman-CEO Harris Diamond a new venture, but details will
not be released until the spring.
While the reshuffling was underway before Mr. Reilly was hired, Mr. Karlsson said that his arrival "opened up opportunities" for McCann to improve its talent and its structure. "We do need every single smart, talented creative leader we can get," he said. "McCann is big enough to have a great collective of strong leaders." It was Mr. Karlsson who initiated contact with Mr. Reilly.
Mr. Diamond said that "the only thing people buy from us is our creative skillset coupled with our understanding of brand, so anything we can do to build that is a good thing."
Mr. Reilly joined Crispin as copywriter in 2003, later serving as the global creative director on Burger King. He was named worldwide chief creative officer in 2010. Crispin is not replacing Mr. Reilly. Instead, it is restructuring the creative department where executive creative directors in individual offices will have more autonomy, a structure developed by Mr. Reilly, CEO Andrew Keller, and Chairman Chuck Porter.
Mr. Reilly also helmed creative on accounts like Microsoft, Dominos, Old Navy and Kraft, and helped propel the agency to creative heights, including winning awards at Cannes and the One Show. In 2012, Ad Age's sibling site, Creativity, named him the third-most-awarded creative director of the year.
