Five months after former Wieden+Kennedy Global Chief Creative Officer and President Colleen DeCourcy announced she was retiring from advertising, she is back on the scene—as chief creative officer of Snap Inc.

In her new role, DeCourcy will steer the company’s global creative efforts and help elevate its brand image and storytelling. DeCourcy will report to Snap Chief Marketing Officer Kenny Mitchell.

“We are so honored to have Colleen join our team at Snap,” Mitchell said in a statement. “Her exceptional strategic and creative leadership makes her the perfect person to help transform the way we bring the Snap brand to life around the world. Colleen has already made a tremendous impact on the organization, and we can’t wait to see how her incredible talent, passion, and imagination continue to fuel creativity at Snap.”

DeCourcy has actually been working under the radar at the company in recent months. She and her team were involved in the company’s first-ever Oscars ad, a nod to the Best Picture-winning film “CODA” that showed users how to fingerspell through Snapchat lenses.

When DeCourcy announced her retirement last December, she said, “I think I always knew that when I felt that the job had been done, that it would be my time to go.” On her next steps, she told Ad Age, “​​I wouldn't work in advertising, that I know for sure. It was hard work, I’m getting close to retirement age, so I’m gonna take it slow, take it easy.” As for what she might explore next, "I’m interested in what’s happening with social media, R&D," she noted. "There are just so many things, so I’ll kind of hang out and enjoy a little space."

Ultimately for DeCourcy, the draw of Snap's technology platform and the broader concerns of social media were hard to resist.

“My concerns about the impact of social technologies on society are pretty well-known,” she said. “At Snap I’ve met a thoughtful group of people with values and a mission that can make a difference. That’s 100% why I’m doing this.

“What I didn’t expect is how much fun it would be to take my advertising brain and do something completely different with it,” DeCourcy added. “ I’m at a ten-year-old company that’s just getting started in terms of the good it can do with a camera. That’s an incredible opportunity for a creative thinker.”

The announcement comes ahead of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, where DeCourcy will be honored with the Lion of St. Mark and will also serve as Jury President of the Glass Lions.

The news also comes on the heels of the company's first quarter financial results, during which it reported user growth that’s outpacing both Facebook and Twitter.  

Snap saw 332 million daily active users in the first quarter of 2022, an 18% jump (52 million) year-over-year.  Facebook reported 1.96 billion users in the first quarter, an 4% increase year-over-year, while Twitter’s average monetizable daily active usage was 229 million in the first quarter, up 15.9% year-over-year. 

Revenue was up too, rising 38% year over year to $1.06 billion, though the company reported a $360 million net loss during the period compared to $287 million the prior year, citing factors such as inflation and unrest. The company’s ad business has also been affected by disruptions to the online ecosystem as a result of Apple’s app-tracking policies that sever ties between apps and data that allow marketers to discern when their ads lead to a sale. 

Product-wise, Snap Inc. has been growing. It’s beefed up its AR platform, expanded its content offerings and broadened its product and partner ecosystem. During its recent Snap Partner Summit at the end of April, the company also unveiled a new flying camera called the Pixy.

DeCourcy is just the latest in a number of major leadership hires at the company, which also include former Microsoft exec Jacqueline Beauchere as its first global head of platform safety; Google vet Anne Laurenson, who came on board as managing director of global carrier partnerships; Global Head of Fashion and Beauty Partnerships Rajni Jacques, who joined from Teen Vogue and Allure; and former Facebook exec Konstantinos Papamiltiadis, who joined as VP of platform partnerships. 

In July 2020, Snapchat had brought in ad industry vet, former Laundry Service Chief Creative Officer Leo Macias, to become head of global creative. Macias departed the company last December to become global VP-marketing and activation at Amazon Prime.