Leo Toronto Bolsters Senior Creative Team, with an Eye on Innovation and AI

Left to right: Shirley Xu Wang, Kohl Forsberg, Adam Pickard, Angus Tucker and Marly Dichter

Leo Toronto is growing its creative department as it brings together the power of both Human Insights (HI) and AI.

​Adam Pickard has been appointed as creative director, innovation, reporting to Angus Tucker, chief creative officer, and Shirley Xu Wang comes in as senior art director, partnering with Marly Dichter as senior copywriter. Both reporting to Kohl Forsberg, executive creative director.

Adam Pickard is no stranger to disruption, referring to his work as causing 'good trouble'. He used covid as an opportunity to get himself onto as many AI training modules as he possibly could. For Adam, technology is now a systemic part of the creative process. And has the mandate to build processes around how to leverage it for clients.

Asked why he decided to join Leo Toronto, Adam said, “The role was created following discussions with Angus Tucker and Ben Tarr [president Leo Group Canada] regarding their need for support within the creative department and across the agency with new technologies. I shared my insights as a creative from both agency and freelance work, talked about the changes and educational initiatives I would like to do if hired. I pretty much just described my dream job, so when offered the role, I had to say yes!”

Angus Tucker said, "AI is going to be as transformative a force as the internet was 30 years ago. But creative intuition and judgement and ideas will be just as necessary moving forward. Adam came up through the creative ranks but has always had a real love of technology and how it can help make work more interesting, more creative. He’s a maker first and foremost, and he comes to us purpose built to unleash all these new tools available to us now. With his experience, we have ambitions to demystify how technology can be used to literally shift the way creative departments operate.”

Also joining the senior ranks are Shirley and Marly who have worked on a range of projects, from classic ad campaigns to playful, unconventional ideas. Looking to stretch their creative muscles even further, both moved into PR with the goal of expanding their toolkit and exploring creativity through earned media. During that time, they won a Cannes Lion with Cheetle in Cheadle for Cheetos.

“We joined Leo Toronto because we saw an exciting opportunity to bring a fresh PR lens to traditional advertising and do more impactful brand building work. We've spent time in both advertising and PR worlds, and Leo Toronto felt like the perfect place to blend those experiences. It’s a space where we can not only flex our skills but also keep learning and levelling up when it comes to building brands that actually stick.”

“Shirley and Marly, or “Shmarly” as we’ve quickly learned to call them, are a powerhouse of PR-first creativity. And we could not be more excited to see what their kind of thinking can bring to building brands in the real world, in a real way.” said Kohl Forsberg, executive creative director, Leo Toronto.