When Jaime Robinson and Lisa Clunie set up Joan Creative in New York – named after various famous Joans including Joan Jett and Joan of Arc (there’s a combo) – they probably didn’t see the #metoo explosion on the way.
But fortune, if such it be, favours the brave and Joan Creative appears to have had a flying start (men can work there too).
Its new high profile signing is new MD Karla Stewart (left), late of 72andSunny, Goodby Silverstein, Wieden+Kennedy New York, Goodby Silverstein and, before that, W+K in London.
CEO Clunie says: “We’ve been fortunate to have great success in our first one and a half years since Joan opened its doors, and Karla joins us at a key time in our development as an agency. Her global account and operations leadership experience combined with her belief in the outrageous power of excellent creative ideas, will be a huge asset to Joan as we create the next chapter in our history. She is a true ‘Joan’ at heart, and we’re thrilled to have her on board.”
Will Joan ever spread its wings to the UK? After all, showing those awful males you can do it better than them is, arguably, more effective than complaining about their oafish ways. And there are lots of clients bound to be attracted by such an agency.
