Sunday, May 05, 2013

11116: Delayed WTF 22—mcgarrybowen Mess.

MultiCultClassics is often occupied with real work. As a result, a handful of events occur without the expected blog commentary. This limited series—Delayed WTF—seeks to make belated amends for the absence of malice.

Advertising Age reported mcgarrybowen is now a McGarry-free shop, as Chief Digital Officer John McGarry III—the son of agency founder John McGarry, Jr.—left the place. The elder McGarry abandoned his day-to-day duties about a year ago. Chairman and Chief Creative Officer Gordon Bowen gushed over the departing digital drone’s contributions and accomplishments. But honestly, can anyone identify a single, decent digital project to ever come out of mcgarrybowen? Rumors from Chicago indicate that when Bud Light pulled its business after about six months, one major reason was mcgarrybowen’s complete failure to deliver digital solutions. Guess nepotism can only take you so far.

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John McGarry’s Son Exits McGarryBowen

Dentsu-Owned Shop Hires Doug Livingston as New Chief Digital Officer

By Rupal Parekh

John McGarry III—the son of McGarryBowen founder and veteran adman John McGarry—is departing the Dentsu-owned agency where he founded the digital practice.

He’s being succeeded by Doug Livingston, who most recently served as EVP-director of digital integration at WPP’s Grey.

It’s not immediately clear what future plans for Mr. McGarry, better known as J3, would hold; he couldn’t immediately comment on the matter.

J3 joined McGarryBowen to lead digital in 2007, five years after the shop opened its doors. Mr. McGarry’s departure comes a month after the announcement that co-founder Stewart Owen is retiring from the agency, and comes one year after his father left day-to-day agency operations.

“John has worked with us since the beginning and officially joined our agency six years ago,” McGarryBowen Chairman and Chief Creative Officer Gordon Bowen said in statement. “He grew the practice from two to over 300 amazing global practitioners across digital, social, mobile, branded entertainment and labs who are pushing the boundaries to help our clients succeed in exciting and innovative ways. The entire McGarryBowen family thanks him for his contributions, his leadership and friendship.”

Mr. Livingston job will be a bit different in that he’ll have a lot more worldwide responsibility. The New York-based agency is becoming increasingly global as Japanese giant Dentsu looks to expand the McGarryBowen network. The agency has offices in Chicago, London and Shanghai and is continuing to expand. Mr. Livingston will serve as a member of the agency’s management committee and will report to Mr. Bowen.

“Delivering innovative and integrated digital solutions is incredibly important to our clients and to our continued growth together,” said Mr. Bowen in the statement. “Doug’s digital experience, global expertise and proven ability to expand and win business all make him a perfect fit to lead our growing global digital offering.”

Mr. Livingston starts in the role later this month. He’ll work on a roster of clients that includes Kraft, Disney, United, Crayola, Marriott, Pfizer, Verizon and Dr Pepper Snapple Group.

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