McCann Worldgroup Names Ann-Christine Diaz Global Creative Excellence Lead

McCann Worldgroup today announced that Ann-Christine Diaz will join the network as SVP, global director, creative excellence. Ann-Christine brings over 20 years of experience as a journalist covering advertising and marketing creativity, having served most recently as creativity editor at Ad Age.

In her new role, Ann-Christine will oversee McCann Worldroup’s creative excellence team in support of McCann Worldgroup’s entire global creative community across all of the networks regions and agencies. The team is responsible for providing the network with the resources, programs and tools it needs to continuously produce industry-leading creative work that generates the most impact for client brands. Ann-Christine will leverage her deep experience and insight evaluating creative work and examining important issues that impact the industry to ensure creative excellence continues to be integral to all facets of McCann Worldgroup, from the work, to talent, DEI and more.

John Mescall, McCann Worldgroup’s global creative council president, said, “To anyone who loves advertising creativity, Ann-Christine hardly needs an introduction. Her passion for, and knowledge of, the work is incredible. But that’s just a part of what makes her special. She’s just as passionate about the people who make the work. And about how great work gets made, and what kind of conditions need to exist in order for us to be at our creative best. So I’m incredibly excited that Ann-Christine is joining us in this critical role. She’s just about the best person I can imagine to work with us to help take our creativity to another level.”

Ann-Christine has long been regarded as a pre-eminent authority on creativity in advertising and marketing, having served as top industry publication AdAge’s creativity editor for over a decade. In that role, she was responsible for covering the most innovative and impactful work and people, as well as the creative trends and issues affecting the industry. She also helped launch and oversaw Ad Age’s annual Creativity Awards program dedicated to celebrating the industry’s finest and most effective work and talents.

“Until now, I’ve been a bit of an outsider looking in, so I’m humbled and incredibly excited to be invited in at McCann Worldgroup," said Ann-Christine. “It’s home to people I deeply respect and ideas that have re-imagined what advertising can be - singular moves like Mastercard’s ‘True Name,’ State Street Global Advisors’ ‘Fearless Girl’ - and my personal favourite, Aldi’s 'Kevin the Carrot,' to name just a few."

“That said, it’s with a heavy heart that I leave my work family at Ad Age, a team of smart, passionate experts and wonderful human beings who taught me so much. I’m also sad to be leaving a post that allowed me to shine a light on so many talented people whose boundless ideas made my job feel new and exciting every day. For those I won’t be working with, I’ll still be here cheering you from the side lines.”