McCann UK’s long-serving CCOs Rob Doubal (left) and Laurence Thomson have quit to join M&C Saatchi as global joint CCOs.
Doubal and Thomson joined McCann London in 2012 from then high-flying Wieden & Kennedy London as ECDs in 2012. They became regional CCOs across the UK in 2019.
The two teamed up initially at Mother and, at first, were regarded as a gamble for the more staid McCann but have helped it to remain near the top of the agency billings tree with some outstanding campaigns including Xbox, Just Eat, Microsoft, Aldi and Sky.
Doubal and Thomson say M&C is “an agency with one the most famous names in advertising history and a legacy of creative brilliance. A truly iconic brand with some fantastic offices around the world.
“Driving fame and commerce by leveraging art and creativity is what we love to do and joining the new team with a shared ambition to make M&C Saatchi a global powerhouse with creativity at its core got us very excited.”
M&C executive chair Zillah Byng-Thorne says: “Their creative vision combines with a passion for doing the best for clients, and I expect them to make a huge cultural impact on all parts of the M&C Saatchi Group, which will produce world-class creativity and business results.”
In truth it’s a while since we’ve seen too much creative brilliance from M&C, you’d need to go back to the reign of CCO Graham Fink for that before he was was lured away to WPP Greater China. M&C has been bedevilled recently by accounting issues and is selling off some parts of its global empire to local managements.
Doubal and and Thomson are now accomplished big agency operators and will be valuable armament for new group CEO Zaid Al-Qassab as he joins the agency from Channel 4.
Their departure is a worry for McCann owner Interpublic which has seen something of a creative exodus recently, especially in the US.
