TBWA\London Appoints Katie Jackson for Newly Created MD Role

TBWA\London reveals that, after a yearlong search, the agency is appointing Katie Jackson to the newly created role of managing director. Formerly joint head of account leadership at Grey, Jackson will join TBWA\London from April in order to help manage the agency’s growing portfolio of local and global new business.

Reporting directly to TBWA\London’s CEO, Sara Tate, and working closely alongside Michele Gilson (who recently joined from adam&eveDDB as head of planning), Jackson will take overall responsibility for client services and operational excellence. She will actively build on the agency’s reputation by championing effective and award-winning work, whilst identifying and developing new creative capabilities. She will be additionally responsible for driving organic growth and developing TBWA’s mobile capability as launched in 2018.

As head of account leadership at Grey London, Jackson ran the agency’s flagship Marks & Spencer account whilst driving double-digit profitability growth across her portfolio by empowering smaller, nimbler teams. Prior to joining Grey, Jackson was head of account management at Brothers & Sisters, where she led the award-winning ‘Bears’ campaign for Center Parcs and ran the Carphone Warehouse business. During this tenure she introduced a new performance management system that improved retention rates by 25%. Jackson has additionally worked at RKCR/Y&R and spent time client-side as head of marketing at ME+EM. 

Commenting on Jackson’s appointment, TBWA\London’s CEO, Sara Tate, said: “It’s taken a year to find a world-class suit who compliments my background as a strategist but also has the hustle and disruptive spirit that embodies TBWA. Katie is the perfect TBWA pirate because she is ambitious, creative, whip smart and above all full of energy and ideas about how to keep improving the agency and disrupting the market. Her arrival is perfect timed to help us manage some big new business wins and I’m really looking forward to working with her.”

Katie Jackson added: “I’m thrilled to be joining the management team and playing a part in shaping the agency’s culture and agenda as it continues to grow. People make places, and the opportunity to work with and learn from someone like Sara doesn’t come around very often. The agency isn’t distracted by big rhetoric; they’re just focused on making great work that gets talked about – their pirate spirit is palpable.” 

Photo credit: Matt Holyoak