Wieden + Kennedy is preparing the next generation of management with a new global executive team. Colleen DeCourcy, the founder, chief creative officer and CEO of social media firm Socialistic, has been named global co-executive creative director. She’ll work with Mark Fitzloff, the W+K ECD known primarily for his work as CD on the agency’s award-winning Old Spice client, who becomes global co-executive creative director.
In addition, the agency said Dave Luhr, W+K partner and global chief operating officer, would become president. He'll succeed Dan Wieden, who assumes the role of chairman of W+K’s global management team.
In other changes, Joe Staples, the agency’s CD on Chrysler and Dodge, was promoted to ECD, where he will replace Fitzloff on the Portland management team and partner with co-ECD Susan Hoffman and managing director Tom Blessington. Staples has most recently been instrumental in Chrysler Super Bowl campaigns like Eminem’s “Born of Fire” and the Clint Eastwood spot “It’s Halftime in America.”
Creative changes at the top of W+K follow this week’s announcement that the agency’s global co-ECD John C. Jay will leave that role to head a new joint venture called W+K Garage, billed as a multidisciplinary agency focused on content and technology.
Before starting Socialistic in 2010, DeCourcy was the first chief digital officer for TBWA Worldwide and has also been the chief experience officer at JWT, N.Y. and CCO at Organic, where she led creative on Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep.
In a statement, Wieden said, “I don’t think we’ve ever had a chairman, but now I am one, albeit an active one. Between Dave (Luhr) and Mark (Fitzloff,) we have 40 years of proven W+K experience, respect and leadership. This level of talent and experience gave me the confidence to search outside the agency to find a third global management team member with digital expertise.”
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