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Interpublic CEO Philippe Krakowsky has been busily ringing the changes since the took over from Michael Roth and now flagship digital agency R/GA has new leaders: CEO Sean Lyons is on his way – “to pursue a new opportunity” – and global CCO Tiffany Rolfe takes on the role of chair while chief client officer Robin Forbes becomes interim CEO (both below.)
R/GA, once the model of what a holding company digital agency should look like, has had a rougher time recently: closing it San Francisco office with Krakowsky highlighting a shortfall in project work at R/GA and Huge as problems in his 2022 annual results statement.
Biggest creative agency McCann also has a new leader in former media executive Daryl Lee, while Grey’s Javier Campopiano was this was appointed as CCO of both McCann and McCann Worldgroup (the hitherto semi-independent McCann network.)
Krakowski says: “R/GA has always been one of the most technologically-advanced agencies, where brands turn for transformational marketing and experiences driven by creativity and innovation,” commented Krakowsky. “We thank Sean for his leadership and commitment to shaping R/GA into the recognized leader it is today and wish him well going forward.
“We’re also very much looking forward to supporting Tiffany, Robin and the leadership team at R/GA as they continue to define what the future of marketing can look like with work that creates valuable human experiences and taps into the potential of emerging technologies for a great portfolio of clients.”
Creative agency brands are under pressure at all the big ad holding companies, hardly surprising in a sense as there are so many of them. WPP CEO Mark Read this week claimed that his merged line-up: AKQA (incorporating Grey), VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson (all of which put technology up front) was the way to go as it made life easier for clients and added to profits.
