TBWA\Chiat\Day New York has a new chief creative officer. The Omnicom agency has promoted Amy Ferguson, its executive creative director, into the top creative post previously held by Chris Beresford-Hill, who departed in October to become Ogilvy's president of North America advertising.

The appointment is a full-circle moment for Ferguson. Though she started her post as executive creative director at TBWA New York in 2018, her first major job in the industry was as an art director at the agency in 2003, working on projects such as the “In an Absolut World” campaign. She had come out of TBWA’s Youngbloods program founded by TBWA Worldwide Global Creative Chair John Hunt to nurture promising young creative talents. Just this year, Ferguson reimagined Youngbloods for the modern day in order to help to create opportunities for and build the careers of diverse talents. 

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During her time as executive creative director, Ferguson had been part of the team that led the New York shop to a creative renaissance, producing award-winning and buzz-making campaigns such as Mtn Dew's Super Bowl ads recreating “The Shining” and challenging viewers to count hundreds of bottles for a $1 million prize, as well as a campaign bringing back celebrity artist Bob Ross to paint a bottle of Dew. She was also behind an award-winning experiential campaign that invited consumers to turn their Nikes, Reeboks and other shoes into Billie Jean King’s signature Adidas kicks—an effort that went on to increase the brand’s tennis sales by double digits. 

“The work I try to do is brave,” Ferguson said. “I'm attracted to great ideas and things that you haven't seen before. Those are the things that get me excited. If we’re a little bit nervous or scared, that’s good and that’s where the bravery kicks in.”

That she is stepping into the creative chief role will help to ensure the continuity of excellence in the work, but according to TBWA\Chiat\Day New York CEO Nancy Reyes, it’s a move that will also help nurture the well-being and futures of the agency’s talent.

“Amy does the kind of work that we want to be known for, stuff that doesn’t look like anything else that’s out there and that’s exciting,” Reyes said. “But the thing I appreciate most about Amy is just how much she cares about the growth and development of our own people. We all have to do that better in this industry, we have to take care of our people, love them, give them straight-up feedback and she’s awesome at that.” 

“I love the work and I’ve shown that the work matters to me, but it’s not the only thing that matters to me and never has been,” Ferguson added. “I think if you emphasize things like culture, diversity, collaboration and opportunity, you can create the conditions so that the good work is inevitable—or at least much easier to get to. I really, really care about making this a place where people want to work. You have to have both the work and the culture—you can’t have one without the other.”

Outside of TBWA, Ferguson also made a lot of creative noise. While she served at Grey, Ferguson had worked on the famous “Talking Baby” campaign for ETrade. In 2016, Ad Age named Ferguson and her former partner Julia Neumann (now chief creative officer at Johannes Leonardo) to our Creatives You Should Know list. As creative directors at MullenLowe, they were behind standout ideas such as JetBlue’s “Flybabies,” a campaign that rewarded passengers with ticket discounts every time an infant cried on the flight.

Speaking of little ones, Ferguson also has management and people skills relatively rare among agency creative chiefs—she’s a mom to three children, all under five.

“When I came up, I didn’t see many female leaders, and if I did, she certainly wasn’t a mother, so I never saw that place for me, an obvious path for me,” she said. “To be able to have somehow, with hard work and a lot of luck come to this position, hopefully other women will think, ‘Oh look, you can do it.’ My kids are my life, and this industry has to be able to let working parents rise. If not, what are we doing? We have to do that for moms, for everybody.” 

See Ad Age’s 2021 Year in Review here.