Rob Reilly, the worldwide Crispin Porter + Bogusky chief creative officer who exited last month, has signed on as global creative chairman of McCann Worldgroup.
As part of the changing creative hierarchy at the company, Linus Karlsson, chief creative officer, global brands, now becomes creative chairman of Commonwealth, the McCann Worldgroup agency established to handle the global Chevrolet account. Fellow Swede compatriot Andreas Dahlqvist, hired by Karlsson in 2011 and most recently deputy CCO, global brands, now becomes CCO of Commonwealth. He has also been named president of the McCann creative leadership council and will work in conjunction with Reilly.
Three years ago, Karlsson, formerly a co-founder of Mother N.Y., was recruited to McCann as chairman and chief creative officer of two of its highest-profile agencies, the company’s New York flagship and its London office. A year later, McCann changed his job, naming him CCO, global brands, a new role at the agency, and turned over creative leadership of those offices to internal execs, including McCann N.Y. veterans Sean Bryan and Tom Murphy. Dahlqvist originally joined McCann as executive creative director and vice chair of McCann N.Y.
Almost twenty years ago, at the start of his career, Reilly worked at the Interpublic agency as a junior copywriter on accounts like Coca-Cola. He’s been at CP+B since 2002.
McCann also said Karlsson will be forming a new “utility and entertainment company,” which will be backed by McCann Worldgroup and Interpublic. The agency declined to share additional details.