McCann Worldgroup Elevates Rob Doubal and Laurence Thomson to UK CCOs

McCann Worldgroup today announced that Rob Doubal and Laurence (Lolly) Thomson, co-presidents and joint chief creative officers, of McCann London, will both assume new roles expanding their remit to chief creative officers of McCann UK, to further drive creative excellence across the agency group in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Milton Keynes and Bristol.

Rob Reilly, global creative chairman, McCann Worldgroup, said: “When it comes to creating meaningful and game-changing work, Rob and Lolly have proven to be some of the very best we have within all of McCann Worldgroup. I have no doubt their expanded roles will yield even more success for us throughout the UK.”

Commenting on this appointment, Mark Lund, CEO UK, McCann Worldgroup said: “At McCann UK our core philosophy is, “Brilliant individually, unbeatable as one” and Rob and Lolly exemplify this. They have led and inspired our teams in London, Central and Manchester with their relentless pursuit of creative excellence and bravery to help build our clients’ businesses and brands.”

Since their tenure at McCann London began six years ago, the agency has delivered consistent award-winning work for clients, which in recent years has resulted in an unprecedented haul of UK awards including 30 Cannes Lions for Microsoft Xbox (2016-18) and the Grand Prix for the new eCommerce category in 2018.

With almost 100 awards won in 2018 alone across a range of sectors, clients and top tier award shows including The Clios, D&AD, Creative Circle, One Show, Webby, NY Festivals and the Andy Awards, McCann UK is today one of the most awarded UK agencies at Cannes Lions 2018 as well as the IPA Effectiveness Network of the Year.

Working closely with the leadership team in London, Thomson and Doubal have also played a key role in helping the organisation achieve two years of double-digit growth. In addition, they have helped to attract top talent with notable appointments including Sergio Lopez joining to lead CRAFT, McCann’s integrated production division, and Ross Neil as executive creative director of McCann London.

They will remain co-presidents of McCann London and continue to report to McCann Worldgroup’s global creative chairman Rob Reilly and work alongside London CEO Alex Lubar. In their broader role, they will work closely with Mark Lund as well as Vince McSweeney, chief creative officer of McCann Birmingham, Dave Price, executive creative director and Neil Lancaster, creative director of McCann Manchester on UK-wide initiatives.

Their primary focus will be to continue to build, nurture and deliver a successful UK-wide creative culture and community, inspiring young creative talent in the agency and continuing to deliver award-winning, breakthrough work for the agency’s clients.

Rob and Lolly  added: “Our mission was to boldly go where no-one had gone before and since joining McCann six years ago we’re proud to now be one of the UK’s most successful agencies, attracting top talent and winning awards, Effies and new business across the board. This promotion helps to solidify the work we’ve done for the London team and across the creative community, and enables us to deliver even more effective, culturally impactful work for our clients.”