Ari Weiss Elevated to Chief Creative Officer of DDB Worldwide

NEW YORK, July 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- DDB Worldwide today announced that Ari Weiss has been promoted to the role of Chief Creative Officer of DDB Worldwide, expanding his remit to include creative responsibilities of the global network. His first hire in the new role names Britt Nolan as his successor and Chief Creative Officer for DDB North America. Britt Nolan most recently served as co-President and Chief Creative Officer of Leo Burnett U.S.

"As a global agency network that bears Bill Bernbach's name and believes that creativity is the most powerful force in business, it's critical to have leaders who constantly champion, provoke and expand creativity in all of its forms, potential and impact," said Wendy Clark, Chief Executive Officer, DDB Worldwide. "Ari's career is best characterized as doing just that. Under his creative leadership the last two years, our North America region has seen a resurgence in business-impacting, award-winning work and high-caliber creative recruiting. I couldn't be more excited to work together again on a global scale."

Weiss joined DDB in 2016, nearly a year after Clark was appointed North America CEO of the Omnicom network. As part of the resurgence, Weiss has led the region to a total of 38 Lions and is perhaps best known for campaigns like "The Flip" for McDonald's, where the iconic "M" arches were flipped to a "W" for International Women's Day; and "Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical" for Mars Wrigley Confectionery. The one-night-only show premiered on Broadway during Super Bowl Sunday in place of a TV ad during the game.

These campaigns helped secure DDB Worldwide as the No. 2 Most Creative Network of the Year at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity and the No. 1 Most Creative Network of the Year at One Show and D&AD for 2019.

Nolan will take over responsibilities for DDB North America's creative leadership as the region's new Chief Creative Officer following Weiss. He joins from Leo Burnett, where he spent 10 years, most recently as co-President and Chief Creative Officer of the Chicago office. While there, Nolan oversaw work that won more than 50 Cannes Lion awards and many more across international shows, including the Effies, the One Show and the Clios.

Nolan is perhaps best known most recently for his award-winning campaigns like "Legal-ade" for Kraft, which established protections and a legal defense fund for children running lemonade stands in the U.S.; "Ostrich" for Samsung, as part of the brand's #DoWhatYouCant campaign highlighting the VR technology of the Samsung S8 and S8+; and "Van Gogh Bnb" for the Art Institute of Chicago, which allowed visitors to spend a night in an interactive replica of the artist's 1888 painting

Bedroom at Arles

via Airbnb, and which later went on to win the Creative Effectiveness Grand Prix at Cannes in 2017.

"Jealousy is a powerful motivator in the creative community, and Britt Nolan has been making me jealous for many, many years," said Ari Weiss, Chief Creative Officer, DDB Worldwide. "I'm confident not only in his ability to keep raising the bar higher in North America, but also in his ability to partner with me and our leaders across the region to continue finding the best ways to provide our clients best-in-class creative output."

ABOUT DDB
DDB Worldwide (www.ddb.com) is one of the world's largest and most influential advertising and marketing networks. DDB has been named Agency of the Year numerous times by the Cannes International Festival of Creativity and the industry's leading advertising publications and awards shows. The Gunn Report has listed DDB as one of the Top 3 Global Networks for 12 of the last 15 years. The agency's clients include Volkswagen, McDonald's, Unilever, Mars, Johnson & Johnson, and the U.S. Army, among others.

Founded in 1949, DDB is part of the Omnicom Group (NYSE) and consists of more than 200 offices in over 90 countries with its flagship office in New York, NY.

ABOUT OMNICOM
Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE – OMC) is a leading global marketing and corporate communications company. Omnicom's branded networks and numerous specialty firms provide advertising, strategic media planning and buying, digital and interactive marketing, direct and promotional marketing, public relations and other specialty communications services to over 5,000 clients in more than 100 countries.

CONTACT:  
Rahel Rasu
Head of Global Communications, DDB Worldwide
Email: rahel@ddb.com 
Phone: 510-962-0458

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SOURCE DDB Worldwide