Dentsu Creative rounds out US creative leadership trio with two new hires

Dentsu Creative has brought on two top executives, Ryan Paulson and Vince Lim, to form a U.S. creative leadership team with Julie Scelzo, the agency’s chief creative officer for the U.S. and the Chicago office. A-List & Creativity Awards Enter for a chance to be recognized as the best in advertising Submit your entry here Paulson joins as Dentsu’s New York CCO. He comes from BBH, where he was most recently global executive creative director. Lim, who has been Barbarian’s CCO for the past year and a half, joins as chief creative partner. In that role, he will creatively lead the T-Mobile account, which Dentsu won at the beginning of the year. The agency envisions Lim, Paulson and Scelzo working as a leadership trio across the U.S. operation. Scelzo, who was promoted to the dual CCO roles this year, has led the American Express relationship for six years. The new hires come five months after Rafael Rizuto left Dentsu Creative, where he was U.S. and LATAM CCO, to join Ogilvy. “Each of these three leaders bring unique skill sets and background,” said Abbey Klaassen, CEO of Dentsu Creative U.S. “Julie is a very seasoned creative leader who’s run big brands and global businesses. I was very impressed with Ryan’s dedication to team building and growth and mentorship. And Vince is so culture-forward, which is critical for our clients and for building our culture of creative ambition and excellence.” Dentsu said the trio will deliver “transformative creativity,” a phrase it has adopted as a mantra of late—a promise to wield the diverse capabilities of its agencies to positively impact people, business and society. “It’s a great way to look at what the best advertising does,” said Paulson. “We transform consumer perceptions. We transform brands. Great agencies transform careers. And at the highest level, advertising transforms or impacts culture. Everything should be transformative in some way, which is a great North Star.” Ad Age Creativity Bookmark our section covering the best in brand creativity every day Read more here Lim said he is excited to help move the T-Mobile brand forward for the next generation. “You’ll always hear this from me: What’s the next chapter? What’s the next chapter of Dentsu Creative, the next chapter of T-Mobile? It’s all about Gen Z and Gen Alpha. We need to move as fast and as smart as culture to solve true business problems for our clients.” Klaassen, Lim and Paulsen all mentioned a more intangible factor helping to drive the agency’s success—the fact that its leaders genuinely like each other and have created a workplace of positivity. “Our belief is that to do your best work, you have to be allowed to have a great life,” Klaassen said. “There’s a lot wrapped up in that, but a big part is liking the people you come to work with every day. I feel like that doesn’t happen all the time in your career, and it’s a really lucky thing when it does.” Prior to BBH, Paulson worked at agencies including McCann, Droga5 and Mekanism. Lim has worked at Argonaut, VaynerMedia and McCann. Dentsu Creative U.S. was named an Ad Age A-List standout agency this year. Other recent new business wins include Lowe’s and Honeywell.

Dentsu Creative rounds out US creative leadership trio with two new hires

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