Shannon Washington will join McCann Worldgroup as the global chief creative officer for the group’s boutique creative agency, Gotham.
Washington currently serves as U.S. chief creative officer at R/GA, where she will finish out the year before beginning at McCann in January 2024.
This appointment marks her return to Gotham; she was a director of digital creative and strategy from 2012 to 2013. She worked primarily on the Maybelline New York account, which Gotham still counts as a core client today.
“I am excited to return to Gotham and its team, the place where my journey in this industry truly began, and leverage the agency’s incredible track record in beauty, luxury and personal care with my love for technology and smart media to help brands in other categories grow by finding their rightful and impactful place in culture,” said Washington.
In her new role, Washington will report to Javier Campopiano, McCann Worldgroup’s global chief creative officer. She is Campopiano’s first senior creative appointment since he joined the network in September.
Washington will partner with Gotham president and CEO Laurie Donlan to “deliver the most culturally impactful and effective solutions for clients while expanding the agency’s client roster into complementary categories and brands.”
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Laurie Donlan, Gotham president and CEO, said: “Shannon is a change agent in the most positive of ways — redefining the role brands play while helping them grow and centering creativity as a force for making people’s lives better,”
“That ability to activate the full potential for brands, to not only drive culture but to vastly improve it, makes her an unmatched talent in our industry and the exact right person to take Gotham forward.”
For her part, Washington added, “McCann Worldgroup’s incredible talent, focus on creativity and commitment to creating the conditions for everyone to thrive is perfectly aligned with my own ethos.”
Her appointment is one of three key shifts in McCann’s creative leadership, which the network hopes will “fuel creative excellence and enhance client focus.” McCann New York’s co-CEOs, Shayne Millington and Pierre Lipton, have both shifted to creative roles within the company.
Millington will take on creative leadership at McCann New York as the shop’s chief creative officer, while Lipton will work across the company’s global brands as McCann Worldgroup’s global executive creative director.
“It’s exciting to deepen the bench of creative leadership at McCann Worldgroup and put leaders in the best positions to create the most positive impact,” said Campopiano of the hires.
