Javier Campopiano, worldwide chief creative officer at Grey Group, has been named global CCO of McCann Worldgroup and McCann.
He will join the business later this year and report to McCann Worldgroup and McCann chief executive Daryl Lee.
Campopiano, who will continue to be based in Madrid, will be responsible for the creative leadership across McCann’s global network, which spans more than 100 countries and includes more than 16,000 people.
The combined CCO role across McCann Worldgroup and McCann is a move to “align the expansive suite of solutions in the McCann Worldgroup network with the creative powerhouse McCann” the business said.
It also means that Campopiano will work closely with Suzanne Powers, chief product officer at McCann Worldgroup. She took on the role last month with a remit to “drive product excellence – ensuring the entire organisation is aimed at making, nurturing, and evolving its collective creative product”.
Campaign also reported in January that Alex Lopez, president and global chief creative officer, was parting ways with McCann having joined in 2021 after 23 years at Nike.
A McCann spokeswoman told Campaign that the McCann global CCO role has been vacant and that the closest equivalent in recent years would be Rob Reilly, who was McCann Worldgroup as creative chairman between 2014 and 2021. He is now global CCO of WPP.
Lee said: “I am super excited to get to work with Javi. He is a kindred spirit from the southern hemisphere, making his mark on the global stage through ideas that shape the world for the better.
“His creativity has no boundaries, his work defies categories, and he has the recognition to prove it. But most of all, he understands that a democratic culture of deep inclusion will define the next generation of creativity in our industry. I am delighted he will get to build on that culture at an epic scale here with us at McCann Worldgroup.”
Campopiano is well known in the industry for his “It’s a Tide ad” work, which won a Cannes Grand Prix and a D&AD black Pencil. The campaign was created when he worked at Saatchi & Saatchi New York.
Most recently, he spearheaded Coca-Cola’s “Christmas always finds its way” short film series in partnership with Amazon and Imagine Entertainment.
Campopiano has been working for Grey since 2019. Before this, he was CCO at Saatchi & Saatchi North America for eight years.
He began his career as a copywriter for Ogilvy Argentina in 2001, working his way up to creative director. Campopiano moved to J Walter Thompson (now known as Wunderman Thompson) in 2005 and to Saatchi & Saatchi two years later.
He joined FCB as chief creative officer in 2010 and two years later relocated to the US to become CCO of the agency’s New York office.
He said: “The last four years have been amongst the most fulfilling of my career, and since I met Daryl and the team, I haven’t stopped thinking of the endless possibilities of joining one of the most complete and exciting assemblies of brands and talent in our industry.
“These days we all have two jobs in advertising: create excellence for the assignments we work on; and make our industry a talent magnet again. And McCann Worldgroup is an exciting place to make these things happen.”
Campopiano will also serve as the Outdoor Lions jury president at this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
Laura Maness, global CEO of Grey, added: “We’re extremely proud of the famously effective work we’ve made together with Javier over the past four years. We’re confident in a smooth transition through the summer and look forward to announcing some very exciting news in the near future.”
