McCann Melbourne’s Pat Baron has been named chief creative officer of McCann Australia, stepping up into a national role.
The position has been left vacant since John Mescall’s move to become global ECD at McCann Worldgroup in New York in June 2014.
Baron was promoted to Melbourne chief creative officer last year, after more than six years as ECD. Prior to McCann he held roles at Indie Creative, JWT and Clemenger BBDO.
McCann CEO Ben Lilley says Baron will continue to help the agency's craft and elevate its creative product across the APAC region.
“Pat’s creative record speaks for itself. In his new role, he’ll help ensure the ongoing excellence and effectiveness of our creative product nationally across each McCann Worldgroup Australia entity.
"Today this includes McCann, McCann Health, SMART, MRM and The Red Republic, headed by a brilliant team of creative leaders including Matt Lawson in Melbourne, Jerker Fagerstrom and June Laffey in Sydney and Ben Davis in Queensland, so I couldn’t be more excited by our national creative line-up," he says.
Recognised as one of the top creatives in the world, Baron has produced Lion-winning work for Tigerair, Melbourne International Film Festival and was one of the creatives behind Dumb Ways to Die.
Since Baron's return to McCann Melbourne, the agency topped the world's most awarded agency in the The Gunn Report and won many accolades for campaigns including V/Line Guilt Trips, the Australian Government's Impossible Orchestra and Dumb Ways to Die.
Baron adds: “Ben, Rob, John and [McCann Worldgroup Asia Pacific President] Charles [Cadell] have all been incredibly supportive and I'm thrilled to be part of their creative vision for the future. I’ve been fortunate enough to work with the dynamic-duo of Adrian Mills and Matt Lawson in Melbourne. Now having admired Jerker, Ben D, June and their teams for a long time, it’s an honour to work with them during this exciting time of growth at McCann.”
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