VML Hires Kmart 'Ship Your Pants' Creative Sean Burns

Recent hires by global marketing agency VML are helping expand its Chicago presence while adding depth and expertise to its creative and strategy teams. From its launch in 2013 to this year, the office will have grown by more than 75 employees, to more than 100 people. Earlier this year, VML brought all of its Chicago staff together by consolidating multiple office locations into one space located at 233 North Michigan  Avenue. The new office is undergoing a makeover that will help accommodate growth and foster creativity.

VML has announced that Sean Burns has been hired as executive creative director, bringing award-winning broadcast experience to the agency. Burns comes from FCB Chicago, where he worked as a senior vice president, creative director, on brands including Kmart, MillerCoors, Hillshire, Cox Cable and Janssen. Prior to FCB, Burns was a vice president, creative director at Grey New York. His work has been recognized with four Cannes Lions, Gold Addys, Gold New York Festival World medals and Effies. Well-known work Burns has helped craft includes Kmart - Ship Your Pants and Kmart - Jingle Joes. Burns will serve as a principal team lead alongside current Managing Director and Executive Creative Director Jeremy Schutte. 

Erik Peterson has been hired as North American director, optimization and acquisition, for VML, based out of Chicago. For more than 20 years, Peterson has consulted in the digital marketing industry with applied marketing communications and user experience (UX) expertise. Since 2009, he has blended behavioral science and data insights to optimize customer experiences to increase incremental revenues in ecommerce for leading Fortune 500 brands. Peterson has been a featured speaker at the Adobe Summit 2015, ClickZ Live, 2012 Conversion Conference and 2011 MIMA Summit. His work has been recognized by Chicago Association of Direct Marketing (CADM) and ZenithOptimedia for Best Performance Marketing program.

Rob McCutcheon has been hired as a strategic technology lead working across VML’s Gatorade business. McCutcheon integrates business, digital and design, and has worked on channel strategy, platform strategy and communication strategy for a variety of Fortune 500 companies, including Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Victoria’s Secret, T. Rowe Price and Unilever. McCutcheon previously worked as director, customer experience strategy, for Team Detroit and as a senior strategy manager for Razorfish in New York. He holds an M.S. in integrated marketing from New York University.  

Hilary Murdock has been promoted to group director and head of strategic planning for VML Chicago. She helps drive consumer insights and digital strategy across the Kimberly-Clark and Kellogg businesses. Murdock has been with VML since June 2014 as strategic planning director and previously worked on the KFC account at FCB Chicago. She holds a M.S. in strategic communications from Columbia University in New York City.