Weber Shandwick appoints chief creative officers for New York and North American Healthcare

Weber Shandwick has named two key chief creative officers. Angela Mears, who previously served as global executive creative director at the agency, has been named chief creative officer of its New York office. The role was previously held by Ciro Sarmiento, who left to join Saatchi & Saatchi in August. See all of Ad Age's 2023 Agency A-List winners here The agency also named Lou Massaia its first North America Healthcare chief creative officer. Massaia joins from Havas Health & You, where he served as executive VP, chief creative officer. Mears has been with Weber for over 11 years and led work for clients across categories, including for VMware, Genentech and Columbia Sportswear. Some of the agency's New York clients include Smartwater, Haleon and Anheuser Busch InBev. Mears will also continue to handle McDonald's, Airbnb, and Ikea, which she had worked on since 2018. One goal for Mears in New York will be to “bring the heartbeat back to the agency,” she said. “For Weber Shandwick to be strong, New York needs to be really strong, and that starts with the creative team,” Mears said. “It really is about reinvigorating and bringing a sense of shared energy, vision, inspiration, and flow to ourselves and to our clients.” 'Co-creative team' Moving forward, Mears will look to lead the New York team of around 40 creatives as a “co-creative team,” working more cohesively with other parts of the agency focused on health, corporate communications, risk mitigation, and more. “We need more people, perhaps those not from traditional agency creative backgrounds, to have a seat at the table in our process much earlier, so that we could get to more interesting recommendations for clients," she said. One example of that, according to Mears, is partnering with influencers more, instead of thinking of influencers as a “channel.” “We need to be partnering with influencers and creators, and really getting inspired by what's happening on TikTok, BeReal, and these channels and really think about how can brands authentically engage and add value in those spaces,” Mears said. “In the traditional agency process oftentimes influence is treated as a channel.” Mears, who has lived in multiple cities during her time at Weber, moved to Chicago in 2018 and will lead the New York team on a hybrid basis. “I believe in the power of being able to lead through a hybrid environment, and that's going to be the case in New York. I'll be based in Chicago, but traveling out as frequently as the work demands,” Mears said. Untangling a complex yarn Massaia, who has been in advertising for over 25 years leading creative at agencies such as Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness, GSW/Palio, The Bloc and CDM, will lead creative for Weber’s healthcare team in North America. He will oversee key healthcare accounts such as Moderna and Novartis. “I wanted something that was going to challenge me in a way that put me in an uncomfortable place,” Massaia said. “Sometimes [the health and wellness sector] can be a fairly traditional place to work, and what has kept me relevant throughout the years is taking untraditional approaches and making a name for myself in that way. When you think about the way policy, media, society, technology, and ultimately advertising are so intertwined, it's more complex now than it ever was. Part of the magic that attracted me to Weber is that it's a place that knows how to untangle that complex yarn.” Subscribe to Ad Age Sign up now for the latest industry news and analysis Click here Weber Shandwick’s North America CEO Joy Farber-Kolo said it was time for Weber to create this position because it had been growing its work within healthcare including sectors like pharma and public health. Healthcare "is such a strong part of our business,” Farber-Kolo said. “We have over the past couple of years actually built a strong healthcare creative team and put some really important work out in the healthcare space. The mission for any of us is to always make sure we're raising the bar on what we're delivering for our clients.”

Weber Shandwick appoints chief creative officers for New York and North American Healthcare

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