- WPP’s VMLY&R has hired Wayne Best as its chief creative officer of New York. Best previously worked at Interpublic Group’s McCann New York.
WPP’s VMLY&R has hired Wayne Best as its chief creative officer of New York, according to AdAge. Best will be reporting to Jason Xenopoulos, the CEO of New York and co-chief creative officer of North America. And he will also work closely with VMLY&R’s North American chief creative officer John Godsey.
Best is joining VMLY&R from Interpublic Group’s McCann New York where he worked as a co-deputy chief creative officer on the Verizon account. And while there, he also created a number of notable campaigns like “First Responders.” That campaign featured a number of NFL players and an NFL coach with the rescue workers who had saved their lives. That campaign was featured on the Super Bowl this past year.
“Wayne has proven himself to be an excellent creative leader with the ability to deliver creatively celebrated work that is highly effective,” said Xenopoulos in a statement. “I am confident that his addition to our team in New York will continue to accelerate our abilities to produce groundbreaking work.”
One of the clients that Best will oversee is Dell Technologies. And some of VMLY&R’s other clients include Office Depot, Wendy’s, the U.S. Navy, Pepperidge Farm, New Balance, and Pfizer.
“Smart, talented people. Great clients. And an agency that has already made a seismic shift to adapt to the future of marketing. What’s not to love?” added Best.
Before Best joined McCann, he was a creative lead for Walmart and worked with Publicis Groupe and its agency Saatchi & Saatchi. And before that, Best led an agency he founded called Cog NYC.
And Best also worked at J. Walter Thompson (now Wunderman Thompson), Taxi NY, Fallon, Wieden & Kennedy, and KBS. And while at JWT, he worked as an executive creative director where he created a CBS animated holiday special for Macy’s called “Yes, Virginia.” And Best also worked as chair of the Ad Council’s Creative Review Committee for five years.
