Riley said TBWA’s New York and Los Angeles offices grew in different ways last year—New York saw more organic growth from existing clients, whereas Los Angeles took on more new business. The goal is for the New York team to win more new business in the new year under Wilcox.
“More clients than ever are leaning back into understanding the power of brand and getting away from thinking that the answer is in programmatic, digital, and analytics,” Wilcox said. “Yes, that's a part of it, but fundamentally, understanding how to connect with human beings and tell stories that matter to them [is important] to get them to consider and act on behalf of your brand.”
Riley is also looking for Wilcox to help the New York office elevate the consistency of its creative output by incorporating more of its specialty offerings to become the “most well-rounded” agency within the network. TBWA’s North America offices, including TBWA\Media Arts Lab, are all now female-led, Riley noted.
“We are descendants of Lee Clow, and he would famously say 'good is not good enough,’” Riley said. “We start from a place of no matter how good last year was, [the creative work] should be better. Are we happy with the work? Certainly. But could we have more of it? Absolutely. Could it be even more disruptive? Could it be even more culturally relevant? Of course. We’ve got an insatiable appetite, and that’s very much the ambition in New York.”
Some of the agency’s creative highlights from last year include Hilton’s 10-minute TikTok ad and TBWA and Nissan’s 4-hour “LoFi Girl” inspired video on YouTube.
Wilcox’s JL tenure
Wilcox had been with JL for more than eight years. She joined the agency as head of account management before becoming managing director in 2021. During her time leading the account team, Wilcox helped win and manage work across clients such as Kraft Heinz, Danone, Volkswagen, MassMutual, Gap, Amazon, EA Sports, Uber, Instagram and Google. She assumed the chief executive role at JL in May, shortly after President Bryan Yasko departed and soon after joined Accenture Song.
While her stint as CEO was relatively short, Johannes Leonardo’s co-founders and creative chairs Jan Jacobs and Leo Premutico credited Wilcox in a joint statement with leading the agency to its best year in 2023, in terms of record organic growth and record top-line revenue. The agency executed its first-ever Super Bowl ad this year, for Volkswagen.