McCann’s Rob Reilly to become global chief creative officer at WPP
McCann Worldgroup’s global creative chairman, Rob Reilly, is making the move to WPP to take up the role of global chief creative officer.
Reilly, who will report directly into CEO Mark Read, will be focused on championing creativity throughout the holding group and working with the chief creative officers of each agency to foster a culture that will attract and nurture diverse creative talent.
Reilly enters the role almost 12 months after it was announced John O’Keeffe was stepping down as global CCO. O’Keeffe had been with WPP for 12 years.
Reilly said of his move: “Mark’s ambition is to make WPP the most creative company on the planet. For a creative person, that was impossible to resist.
“He is leading a complete reinvention of WPP and is committed to putting creativity at the centre of everything the company does. I look forward to joining the talented team of people at WPP and helping its fantastic agencies continue to build on their success.”
Rob Reilly is taking up the global chief creative officer role at WPP
In his six years at McCann, Reilly oversaw some of the agency’s highly-awarded work, including the Fearless Girl statue on Wall Street for State Street Global Advisors. In 2019, the group was named Network of the Year at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity.
Reilly has also chaired industry award shows including the Cannes Lions, and is a board member of The One Club for Creativity and the Facebook Global Client Council.
Read described Reilly as “one of the world’s most celebrated creative leaders”.
“He has been a transformative creative force wherever he has applied his considerable talent, and I know he will have the same impact at WPP. I am delighted that Rob is joining us as we look to make WPP synonymous with the world’s most creative, most effective and most forward-looking work – and at a time when this has never been more important to our clients,” Read said of the appointment.”
Prior to joining McCann, Reilly was partner and worldwide chief creative officer at Crispin Porter + Bogusky.
Reilly will remain at McCann Worldgroup for several weeks as he transitions out of the company.
