Hasta La Creative!

Publicis Communications CEO Arthur Sadoun announced a series of key promotions within the holding company’s network today, Adweek reports. 

Among the promotions, Carla Serrano and Bill Kanarick were appointed as co-chief strategy officers of Publicis Communications. Serrano will also continue to lead Publicis New York as CEO, while Kanarick will retain his role as CSO of Publicis digital hub Publicis.Sapient. 

“Our ambition is to be our clients’ indispensable creative partner in their transformation,” Sadoun told Adweek. “With these appointments, we are creating closer ties with Publicis.Sapient to deliver the interdependent model of the future to all of our clients. We are strengthening our leadership teams to continue to raise the bar for creative excellence.” 

Sadoun added in an internal memo that part of the strategy involves leveraging SapientNitro’s digital capabilities across Publicis’ agency network.

Kate Stanners was also appointed global chairwoman of Saatchi & Saatchi, while continuing to serve as global chief creative officer. She takes over for Kevin Roberts in the role, following  Roberts’ resignation at the start of the month in the wake of his controversial remarks about gender diversity issues in a Business Insider interview that “The fucking debate is over” and he doesn’t spend “any time” worrying about diversity issues at his agencies. 

Leo Burnett Canada CEO and CCO Judy John will now also serve as Leo Burnett chief creative officer, North America, while Brent Nelson will take on the role of chief strategic officer for Leo Burnett, North America. John and Nelson will join global CEO Rich Stoddart and global CCO Mark Tutssel to complete Leo Burnett’s leadership team, and will be responsible for uniting the agency’s operations in the U.S. and Canada. 

Rounding out the series of promotions, Publicis Conseil CEO Valérie Henaff will take on the additional role of Publicis Worldwide global president, while Loris Nold will now serve as Publics Communications chief operating officer, Asia and the Middle East and Justin Billingsley will serve as COO for Latin America and Europe. 

“We are reinforcing the spirit of Power of One by simplifying our structures at local levels to foster greater collaboration and seamless access to resources,” Sadoun said. “In just nine months, our approach has delivered some fantastic results, and I know that with these latest moves the best is yet to come,” he added, referring to the restructuring moves last December which also led to Sadoun’s appointment as Publicis Communications CEO.

This morning Cadillac made its big decision: Publicis Worldwide will be its global creative agency of record.

The (very quiet) review began in September when the brand chose to end its partnership with Hill Holliday, and Cadillac will no longer work with IPG agencies moving forward.

Earlier reports held that, while IPG had chosen to fold the Rogue unit it created to serve the client after the Hill Holliday decision, its Lowe and Partners group would take over the account with creative run out of New York and management handled by Campbell Ewald in Detroit. AdAge reported that “the only shop that’s really losing out on Rogue is Hill Holliday,” but that is no longer the case.

The news amounts to a major loss for IPG, which held the account for little over a year after Cadillac’s Fallon breakup prompted the agency’s CEO to write a note calling the decision “an outcome we do not deserve.” The holding company announced a cross-agency realignment to more effectively serve the client when Cadillac named a new president in August (following the appointment of a new CMO in January), but those efforts were not enough to retain the business.

What’s not clear at the moment is how the review unfolded: Cadillac did not announce it or make any public comments, and we don’t know which agencies were involved beyond Lowe and Publicis.

Read the full internal memo from Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun – which thanks CSOs Carla Serrano, Dylan Williams, and more — below.

(more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

We can’t say that the term “mega region” is embedded in our lexicon, but that’s what they’re calling Publicis North America, the new entity that combines Publicis USA and Publicis Canada to create the largest Publicis Groupe region outside of the holding company’s hub in France.

Eleven-year Publicis vet and Publicis USA boss Susan Gianinno has now assumed the role of chairman of the newly expanded region, focusing on global/regional clients and “priority global initiatives” while working in tandem with recently appointed Publicis Worldwide CEO, Arthur Sadoun. Along with her new chairman role, Gianinno will also be heading to Harvard next for a one-year fellowship. Meanwhile, Andrew Bruce, who has spent the last 15 years at Publicis Canada, where he most recently served as president/CEO, will now take on the CEO post of the newly formed Publicis North America.

Regarding the new moves, Publicis Groupe chief Maurice Levy says in a statement, “This is a wonderful and very prestigious appointment for Susan and for us. I am personally very proud of her and expect that she will bring even more to our people and clients during, and after, this experience. I am sure that under this new team leadership, Susan and Andrew, this new mega region will generate great work for our clients and formidable growth.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.