McCann promotes Craft boss Lopez to Europe role to spearhead production drive
McCann has promoted London and Craft UK production head Sergio Lopez to boss of its European production operations. Craft is McCann’s production arm.
All the big agencies and holding companies are taking production more seriously now as clients squeeze margins and they try to reel back in production work that has gone outside to the likes of Tag and Oliver Group. There’s the additional factor of client demand for low cost online production which often comes under the production arm’s remit.
McCann Worldgroup Europe president Pablo Walker says: “Our Craft capability is going from strength to strength and Sergio’s appointment will enable us to grow this capability even further across the region, cementing our position as a global leader in content production, adaptation, translation and transcreation.”
Lopez (left) says:, “It’s an exciting time to be a head of production as we’re being asked to reinvent and define what the production model is. The opportunity to engage with consumers across hundreds of content-hungry platforms and channels requires an integrated production team which looks at the making of creativity as a whole.”
Craft global CEO Ed Powers says: “Sergio’s experience of building international production networks for agencies and client is second to none. His broader remit will enable Craft to continue to strengthen and expand our capabilities to deliver a production capability that is unmatched in depth and breadth in our industry at a time when marketers are demanding innovative product solutions.”
It remains to be seen if agencies can succeed to the extent they’d like in the production sphere. In the same way that they allowed media to escape the fold 20 or more years ago, they’re now faced with same challenges over production as many clients seem to be prefer using an independent specialist.