17644: Playing Musical Chairs 2.0 In Adland.

 

Advertising Age reported on the C-suite musical chairs playing across Omnicom and WPP, showing how one CEO resignation/departure triggered a dizzying game with lots of moving furniture and song and dance.

Omnicom and WPP seek to simplify structures and offerings. Yet the constant convulsions complicate and confound completeness.

And the music might be a funeral dirge.

Omnicom leadership changes continue as McCann names global chairman

By Brian Bonilla

McCann has elevated Chief Creative Officer Andrés Ordóñez to global chairman, marking the latest leadership shakeup in the Omnicom Advertising network. His promotion comes just two weeks after Ad Age reported that Tyler Turnbull, the agency’s global CEO, plans to join WPP Creative as chief executive in March 2027, succeeding the outgoing Jon Cook.

Ordóñez will remain chief creative officer in addition to assuming the global chairman role, which was last held by Daryl Lee, who departed three months ago.

Omnicom has no plans to appoint a new global CEO for McCann, a spokesperson said. Omnicom didn’t immediately confirm if Turnbull is still expected to stay until March.

Ordóñez joined McCann following Omnicom’s acquisition of Interpublic Group of Cos. in late 2025; prior to that, he had a seven-year stint at FCB, where he eventually rose to global chief creative officer. Ordóñez will report to Andrew Robertson, who took the helm as global CEO of Omnicom Advertising in September following Troy Ruhanen’s retirement.

“There’s no shortage of big, complicated challenges facing our clients—and that’s what makes this moment exciting,” Ordóñez said in a statement. “I believe creativity does more than solve those challenges: it creates demand, and demand drives growth. I’m looking forward to getting closer to our clients and our people, asking the right questions and turning what we learn into work that moves businesses forward.”

This is the latest change for the agency network, which rebranded from McCann Worldgroup to McCann last year and has seen several executive changes, including the departure of its New York CEO, Amber Guild, which was announced in August.

17503: How Consumer Trust Affects Brand Loyalty.

 

Adweek reported a McCann study showed 69% of consumers claimed they’d abandon brands they no longer trust, while 80% claimed they’d intentionally choose brands they do.

 

Can’t help but wonder how consumers’ trust and preferences might be impacted if they learned brands partnered with White advertising agencies mired in exclusivity and systemic racism. Don’t forget advertising practitioners regularly rank among the least-trusted professions too.

 

Those White advertising agencies, incidentally, include McCann.

 

Over Two-Thirds of Consumers Will Ditch Brands They Don’t Trust

 

New study from McCann unpacks a growing consumer trust crisis

 

By Robert Klara

 

Consumers are mired in a trust crisis—and that’s a problem for brands, according to a new study from McCann.

 

The Truth About Global Brands study, released Wednesday, surveyed more than 20,000 people across 20 global markets. It found that though 72% of respondents believe it’s “more important than ever to prioritize truth,” 55% say that brands were more truthful 20 years ago than they are today. 

 

AI has only made things worse: 76% of respondents feared that, before long, they’ll be unable to tell actual humans from computer-generated ones.

 

“There’s this yearning amongst consumers worldwide to find the truth,” McCann global CEO Tyler Turnbull told ADWEEK. “But it’s harder than ever to do so in terms of the content that we’re consuming, the AI generation that’s happening, and frankly, the decline that we’re seeing in trust amongst large institutions, governments, and brands.”

 

In this new dynamic, the risks and rewards are both high. Over two-thirds of consumers (69%) said they’d abandoned the brands they no longer trust, while 80% said they’d “actively choose” brands they do.

 

While that makes it a difficult environment for brands to communicate with audiences, that communication is key to rebuilding trust, Turnbull said.

 

AI transparency 

 

That starts with being truthful about AI use.

 

More than half (53%) of respondents said that the most effective way to secure their trust is for brands to be up front about whether they’re using AI in their ads.

 

Take influencers, for example. The FTC’s required disclosure of any “material connection” with the brand applies to all endorsers—human or not.

 

The marketing department may leave it at that, but McCann’s data makes clear that consumers want to be advised when an avatar is talking to them.

 

“There’s a need to be authentic and open and transparent,” Turnbull said.

 

From the west to the rest

 

Another important factor in building trust is a brand’s understanding of global culture.

While a flood of information online has left many consumers confused and dubious, it’s also opened them up to a wealth of new ideas, trends, and outlooks, often from the earth’s far corners.

 

The age when brands assumed that trends began on the American coasts and then spread to the rest of the world has given way to a more diversified and equalized exchange of ideas. Customers, the study found, are more likely to trust brands willing to embrace that expanse of influences.

 

“What we’re seeing is successful global brands looking everywhere for where culture is being created and moving, and then exporting that to other markets,” Turnbull said. “Every brand and consumer is craving the same thing: authenticity.”

17497: Different Outhouse, Same Shit—Brought To You By Adland.

Adweek reported the former McCann Worldwide CCO, who left Omnicom Advertising after the acquisition of IPG, returned to Publicis Groupe, where he formerly served as Saatchi & Saatchi US and Latin America CCO, and will now serve as Leo Constellation Americas and Iberia CCO.

 

The winding opening sentence above underscores how White holding companies—and a single White operating company—have fueled the commoditization of Adland, whereby people, places, and practices are repetitive, redundant, and replaceable.

 

Why, even C-suite leaders shift from White advertising agency to White advertising agency, confirming all firms are essentially identical.

 

Of course, the drones must weather the storms of change, often cast away and lost in a sea of sameness.

 

The Adweek report closes with the most outrageous statement: “Part of his remit also includes recruiting and developing the agency’s talent pipeline.”

 

Recruiting and developing the agency’s talent pipeline?! Um, the newish CCO will draw from his limited pool of connections at Publicis Groupe, Omnicom Advertising, and the erased IPG to maintain the cronyism, exclusivity, and systemic racism in Adland.

 

Publicis Groupe Taps Javier Campopiano Following Omnicom Exit

 

He’ll join Leo Constellation as CCO for the Americas and Iberia

 

By Hannah Bowler

 

Two weeks after announcing his departure from Omnicom Advertising, Javier Campopiano is joining Publicis Groupe as global chief creative officer (CCO) for Leo Constellation Americas and Iberia.

 

The former McCann Worldgroup and McCann Worldwide CCO left Omnicom just six months after taking on his latest role following its acquisition of Interpublic Group (IPG) in December 2025.

 

His appointment at Publicis follows the group’s $2.2bn purchase of LiveRamp. In a statement, Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun, said Campopiano’s appointment showed the holdco’s commitment to creativity alongside such investments.

 

“Javier’s return is the latest demonstration of our commitment to investing in what remains a key differentiator for our clients: the very best talent, to drive creativity in all of its forms,” he said.

 

A return to Publicis

 

The move marks Campopiano’s return to Publicis Groupe where he previously served as CCO for Saatchi & Saatchi U.S. and Latin America. Campopiano initially left Publicis Group in 2022 to join Grey, also in a CCO role.

 

In a statement, Campopiano said his return had been on the cards for a while. “For years, Marco and I had this running joke where he would text me ‘come home’ completely out of the blue, and I would immediately reply ‘pronto.’ Well, the time has finally come,” he said.

 

At Leo Constellation he will report to global co-CEO’s Agathe Bousquet and Marco Venturelli. The pair said Campopiano was one of most respected creative leaders in adland. And added: “His ability to combine craft, humanity and impact makes him the perfect person to lead our creative community across the Americas and Iberia.”

 

Campopiano is a decorated exec having earned himself Cannes Lions, Clios, The ANDY Awards and D&AD’s.

 

At Leo Constellation he’ll work closely with the leadership team overseeing creative strategy and output across the group for both global and regional brands. Part of his remit also includes recruiting and developing the agency’s talent pipeline.

17481: On Honda Motor Europe Media Pileup.

MediaPost reported Honda Motor Europe completed a formal review, handing its lead media duties to EssenceMediacom in the WPP Media unit. The scheme will also utilize the WPP Open platform.

 

WPP CEO Cindy Rose probably applauds the win as proof that Eviscerate28 is working.

 

Okay, except the creation of EssenceMediacom, WPP Media, and WPP Open all happened under predecessor WPP CEO Mark Read’s watch.

 

To compound the confusing complexity, the incumbent White media agency for Honda Motor Europe was UM, which shifted when Omnicom acquired IPG. The loss could be fallout spotlighted and foreseen in a previous post.

 

It’s difficult to tell who’s in the driver’s seat for this pileup—but drones across WPP and Omnicom will likely serve as crash test dummies.

 

WPP’s EssenceMediacom To Lead Media For Honda Motor Europe

 

By Steve McClellan

 

Honda Motor Europe has appointed WPP Media’s EssenceMediacom as its lead media agency for the region, following a formal review.  

 

Spending in the region last year by the client is estimated at close to $90 million by agency research firm COMvergence.  

 

The auto giant previously worked with UM in the region. It wasn’t immediately clear what other agencies participated in the review.

 

The new partnership, effective in August, spans Honda Motor Europe’s automobile, motorcycle, marine, power products, and corporate communications divisions across 16 European markets as well as pan-European activity.  

 

As part of its remit, a dedicated agency team will lead Honda’s media strategy, planning, and activation across Europe. It will leverage marketing platform WPP Open, to integrate Honda’s brand-building, product communications, conversion activity, audience intelligence, channel planning, activation, and reporting into a unified system. 

 

Honda’s decision comes as the company strives to evolve its marketing approach and strengthen alignment across brand, product and customer engagement activities, according to the company.  

 

Consultant MediaSense was retained by the client to assist with the review.

17047: McCann Worldgroup Shrinking Its World.

 

Advertising Age reported McCann Worldgroup “has been quietly trimming its workforce” in recent months—a RIF supplemented by key senior-level departures.

 

That’s a sharp contrast to loud layoffs and lunacy in recent years. Guess the White advertising agency is executing more preemptive pruning in advance of the impending Omnicom acquisition of IPG.

 

McCann’s “Truth Well Told” tagline clearly does not apply to staff communications.

 

McCann Worldgroup lays off staff while some leaders choose to exit

 

By Ewan Larkin and Brian Bonilla

 

McCann Worldgroup has been quietly trimming its workforce over the last few months and has parted ways with several senior executives ahead of Omnicom Group’s acquisition of Interpublic Group of Cos., Ad Age has learned.

 

Since February, the IPG agency network has been reducing its workforce in small waves, with one source estimating the cumulative number to be about 120 people. Those affected appear to be employees in duplicative or non-revenue-generating roles, including staffers in corporate communications, creative and social. Several high-level executives have also departed on their own amid these changes.

 

McCann did not comment on the number of job reductions and referred calls for comment to IPG, which provided this statement: “Earlier this year, Interpublic announced that we are embarking on a transformation process. On our recent earnings call, we shared that we are centralizing corporate functions and accelerating investment in central platform capabilities like production and analytics through greater consolidation into centers of excellence, while also streamlining across the organization.”

 

It continued, “While these actions enhance service delivery, the composition of our workforce and our agencies is also impacted. It’s never easy to take these kinds of actions, but they are due to the transformation and restructuring we announced in February, and not part of the proposed transaction with Omnicom.”

 

The reference is to an IPG restructuring announced by CEO Philippe Krakowsky in February, in which it promised to save $250 million through restructuring within its agencies this year.

 

The pending merger is anticipated to yield $750 million in annual cost savings, which are also widely expected to result in layoffs. Omnicom Chairman and CEO John Wren has repeatedly emphasized that roles tied to client service and revenue will be safe from cuts. “You’re gold,” Wren has previously said of such staffers.

 

High-level departures at IPG’s McCann Worldgroup

 

McCann Worldgroup said it has 12,000 employees, so the cuts would amount to about 1% of its total workforce. Agencies within the network include McCann, CRM agency MRM, production shop Craft and FutureBrand, whose specialties include design and brand architecture. McCann Worldgroup has a presence in more than 100 countries, according to its website.

 

Among the senior execs leaving or who have already left McCann are Stephanie Nerlich, McCann Worldgroup’s first global president, along with Pete Johnson and Cinzia Crociani, both global executive creative directors based in New York. Johnson and Nerlich could not be reached for comment and Crociani said she resigned to pursue another opportunity.

 

Other departures include Scott Berwitz, senior VP and global director of marketing communications; McCann New York Chief Creative Officer Shayne Millington, whose role is being eliminated; and New York Chief Growth Officer Suresh Raj, who said he recently resigned to join M+C Saatchi. Berwitz and Millington could not be reached for comment.

 

McCann Worldgroup has faced challenges in recent years, including the loss of longtime client Verizon, which shifted its consumer account to WPP’s Ogilvy in late 2023. The network took another hit last June when General Motors pulled significant business from Chevy-focused Commonwealth/McCann and MRM, prompting layoffs at both agencies.

 

McCann Worldgroup ultimately decided to do away with the Commonwealth/McCann brand name in October, parking those employees under McCann Detroit instead. That move followed the March 2024 closure of its San Francisco-based McCann 215 office, whose biggest client was Xbox. Xbox recently launched a campaign with Droga5.

 

Earlier this week, Ad Age reported that HomeGoods, a McCann client of seven years, is also looking for a new creative agency. (McCann New York remains the creative agency of record for TJ Maxx, another TJX Cos. brand.) McCann Worldgroup’s losses have been partly offset by wins such as Ikea’s global brand marketing account and creative duties for Kinder and Tic Tac across Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa.

17027: McCann New York, New Yank, New Yuck.

 

Adweek reported McCann NY nixed the Chief Creative Officer and Head of Growth roles, positioning the moves as restructuring designed to enhance nimbleness and better serve clients.

 

Is the reengineering an admission that White advertising agencies have too many levels of political power? Or is McCann simply preparing for the inevitable redundancy RIF—i.e., executing preemptive pruning before becoming collateral damage in the impending Omnicom acquisition of IPG?

 

EXCLUSIVE: McCann NY Eliminates CCO and Head of Growth Roles

 

Shayne Millington and Suresh Raj will exit the agency as McCann streamlines oversight under North America leadership

 

By Audrey Kemp & Brittaney Kiefer

 

McCann New York is eliminating its top creative and growth roles as part of a restructure that will place oversight under regional North America leadership, according to an internal memo sent to staff Monday and obtained by ADWEEK.

 

As a result, chief creative officer Shayne Millington and head of growth Suresh Raj will depart the agency at the end of the month.

 

The memo frames the changes as part of an effort to consolidate leadership under regional executives and prioritize roles directly responsible for delivering creative and strategic work.

 

“Our goal of partnering with our clients to help them find their truth and tell it well means our leaders and teams need to be closer to the work,” the memo reads. “To achieve this, we need to simplify our structure to reduce layers of leadership so that we can put more emphasis on roles that create the work.”

 

Millington, who has led McCann NY’s creative department for more than nine years, will not be replaced. During her tenure, she led work that made McCann New York the most awarded agency in the city at Cannes in 2023 and was named ADWEEK’s Agency All-Star Creative of the Year in 2024.

 

Britt Nolan, who joined McCann in January from Leo Burnett, will now oversee creative operations for North America, including the New York and Detroit offices. He will also join the agency’s executive leadership team and work alongside executive creative directors Leo Barbosa, Cuanan Cronwright, and Lance Parrish.

 

A spokesperson confirmed the changes to ADWEEK: “We are grateful for Shayne’s leadership over the years and for all that she’s done to help make McCann what it is today. We’re excited for what’s ahead with Britt at the creative helm, leading us into our next chapter.”

 

Meanwhile, Raj’s responsibilities will be absorbed by Michelle Tang, McCann Worldgroup’s North America chief growth officer, who is returning to lead the New York growth team in addition her regional oversight. Tang, who rejoins the executive leadership team, has played a key role in securing key accounts including TJ Maxx and Prudential, according to the memo.

 

The spokesperson also added that Raj chose to depart on his own terms to pursue a new opportunity.

 

“During his time with us, Suresh redefined how we approach new business, bringing in new brands for the network—and has been a champion for inclusivity and collaboration and pushed us to think bigger and bolder about how we grow,” the memo states.

 

The leadership shakeup comes amid ongoing business challenges for McCann, as the agency continues to cycle through high-profile client losses including Verizon and MGM Resorts.

 

The changes also come as IPG prepares for its proposed merger with Omnicom, announced in December 2024. The deal, which would create the world’s largest advertising holding company, is projected to generate $750 million in annual cost savings—likely through operational consolidations and reductions in overlapping positions.

 

“Please join me in welcoming Britt and welcoming back Michelle, and in wishing Shayne and Suresh all the very best in their new chapters,” the memo concludes.

16845: Buckle Up, Detroit.

 

Advertising Age reported on more casualties from General Motors’ decision to partner with White advertising agencies outside of Detroit. Publicis Groupe announced plans to shutter the Leo Burnett Detroit office—which lost Cadillac, Buick, and GMC—and lay off 79 staffers.

 

Add Leo Burnett Detroit to a pileup including Commonwealth, McCann Relationship Marketing, and the White advertising agencies bound to crash and burn in the impending Stellantis review.

 

Despite the setbacks and reductions in force, Publicis Groupe CEO Arthur Sadoun thinks the White holding company will continue to perform far better than rivals. And the Bureau of Labor Statistics claims Adland regularly adds hundreds of jobs.

 

Meanwhile, news sources report General Motors cut about 1000 employees last week—mostly white-collar workers—adding to the 5000 white-collar workers who took buyout offers from the automaker last April. It’s unlikely the 6000 included any Chief Marketing Officers. But it wouldn’t be surprising to learn Chief Diversity Officers were among the terminated.

 

Analysts tie GM’s problems to failure achieving goals with electric vehicles sales. Hey, maybe President-elect Donald Trump can appoint Elon Musk to assist.

16789: Commonwealth Crashed, Crushed, And Crossed Out.

 

MediaPost reported McCann Worldgroup reset course for its Detroit operations after being sent spinning by the recent General Motors reassignment. Specifically, Commonwealth/McCann is being renamed McCann Detroit, along with reshuffled leaders driving the White advertising agency. MWG Global CEO Daryl Lee declared that with the rejiggering, “we reaffirm our commitment to this important market.”

 

Which means McCann Detroit will probably seek to crash the upcoming Stellantis reviews.

 

MWG Reshuffles Detroit Operations Leadership

 

By Steve McClellan

 

Interpublic’s McCann Worldgroup is reshuffling the leadership at its Detroit operations and giving its dedicated Chevvy agency a new name.   

 

Commonwealth//McCann, the dedicated Chevrolet agency, will be renamed McCann Detroit. The old name is a throwback to the origins of the agency when it was a joint venture with Goodby Silverstein & Partners. Earlier this year the agency laid off a number of its Detroit staff.

 

As part of the reorganization, Grant Theron, who previously served as global CEO of Commonwealth//McCann and led the company’s General Motors business globally, has been appointed global CEO of MRM, MWG’s customer relationship agency.    

 

Theron succeeds Kate MacNevin who will continue as global chair of MRM, in addition to her role as global chief operating officer of McCann Worldgroup.   

 

Taking over Theron’s responsibilities on GM will be Belinda Leworthy, who has been elevated to a dual role of global business lead for GM and president, McCann Worldgroup Detroit. She previously led Commonwealth//McCann’s North America operations.   

 

Theron and Leworthy are both based in Detroit. While McCann has made significant layoffs in the market this year, global CEO Daryl Lee indicated in a statement that with the reorganization, “we reaffirm our commitment to this important market.”

16755: TGIF GM, IPG, MRM BS.

Advertising Age reported on the latest collateral damage from General Motors’ decision to ride with new White advertising agencies outside of the Detroit area.

 

Specifically, IPG is extending its pruning by cutting 123 employees from McCann Relationship Marketing in Birmingham, Michigan.

 

Guess MRM was unable to manage the relationship.

16737: IPG Braking & Breaking Commonwealth/McCann.

 

Advertising Age reported IPG White advertising agency Commonwealth/McCann in Detroit is executing layoffs—up to 56 employees—resulting from the recent General Motors decision to roll with new White advertising agencies based outside of the Midwest region.

 

The shop originally launched in early 2012 as a joint venture between White advertising agencies from different White holding companies—Omnicom’s Goodby Silverstein & Partners and IPG’s McCann. The honeymoon didn’t last long, as GM drove Chevy business from GS&P to Leo Burnett months later, prompted by shifting CMOs at the automaker. The latest GM maneuver, incidentally, was also accelerated by a new CMO.

 

It all just goes to show that White holding companies, White advertising agencies, White car companies, and White CMOs create total wrecks that injure lots of White people. Indeed, GM appears to have an assembly line churning out Mark LaNeve models as crummy as the produced vehicles.

 

In short, it’s common chaos—and the wealth is rarely shared with common workers.

16590: Lipton TTFN.

 

Advertising Age reported McCann Worldgroup Global Executive Creative Director Pierre—“So Fucking Bored”—Lipton left the White advertising agency to pursue other opportunities. Don’t expect Lipton to land elsewhere in the IPG network as a Chief Diversity Officer.

 

Remember when former IPG CEO Michael Roth declared the White holding company had zero tolerance for any behavior conflicting with the corporate mission to embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion?

 

Lipton is a poster boy for the hypocrisy, performative PR, and outright lies embedded in the DNA of Adland. People of color who take bold stands for equality are routinely blackballed, blacklisted, and blacked out of the industry. Yet for White people who display cultural cluelessness, exhibit blatant bias, and enforce systemic racism, all is forgiven and forgotten.

 

McCann Global Executive Creative Director Pierre Lipton Departs

 

Lipton had been with McCann for seven years

 

By Brian Bonilla

 

Pierre Lipton, global executive creative director at McCann Worldgroup and former co-chief creative officer of McCann New York, is no longer with the agency. The news comes five months after Lipton was assigned the executive creative director role.

 

“Pierre Lipton is leaving McCann Worldgroup to pursue other opportunities. He contributed to many groundbreaking pieces of creative work during his time here and we wish him well in his next chapter,” Interpublic Group of Cos.’ McCann Worldgroup wrote in a statement.

 

Lipton declined to comment.

 

Lipton’s departure comes five months after he was accused of making an “inappropriate remark” at an internal agency meeting tied to an initiative meant to teach ways to recognize and eradicate unconscious bias. As a result, Lipton took a leave of absence.

 

Lipton had been with McCann for seven years. For nearly three of them, he was co-chief creative officer of McCann New York. Before joining McCann, Lipton was chief creative officer at 360i, which has since been absorbed into Dentsu Creative.

 

“When I came [to McCann] 7 years ago, I did so for the opportunity to walk amongst giants. To be surrounded by and learn from people who were better than I at what I loved doing: making great work for the biggest brands on the planet, and trying to make the world better because of it,” Lipton wrote on his LinkedIn page.

 

In his LinkedIn post, Lipton listed several brands he worked on at McCann such as Mastercard, Verizon and Microsoft, and gun control activism group March For Our Lives.

 

McCann lost its Verizon account to Ogilvy last year and recently shut down its McCann 215 agency, which has long held Xbox as a major client. McCann remains the lead creative agency, according to a spokeswoman for the agency.

 

“I count myself extremely lucky to have connected with some remarkable humans during my time at 622 Third Ave and around the world. I have great affection and respect for more people than I can count, at more companies than I can list, in more cities than I can believe,” Lipton wrote on his LinkedIn. “Thanks to each and every one of you who’ve filled my days with richness, laughs and the drive to do beautifully impossible things.”