See more news releases in Advertising | Personnel Announcements

TBWA\Chiat\Day Promotes Rob Schwartz to Chief Creative Officer

Al Kelly joins as Co-Executive Creative Director with Patrick O'Neill

Jason Nichols joins the digital team as Creative Director along with several key digital hires

LOS ANGELES, April 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles today announced the promotion of Rob Schwartz to Chief Creative Officer. The Agency also announced that it has hired Al Kelly, who will assume the role of Co-Executive Creative Director along with Patrick O'Neill.

Lee Clow, Global Director of Media Arts & Chief Creative Officer, TBWA Worldwide, said of Schwartz, "Rob has grown into an incredible leader. Ultimately our reputation is in our work and Rob has been behind some of the best work this Agency has done recently. Our clients count on him to really understand their business and create the kind of work that we can all be proud of. Al and Patrick will be great additions to the leadership. And the new digital teams add to our Media Arts depth."

Al Kelly joins the Agency from Fallon, Minneapolis where he served as Executive Creative Director. Kelly's primary responsibility will be for the Agency's Pepsi client. O'Neill will continue to oversee the Agency's Visa and Sara Lee Business in the US.

"We have worked very hard to find not only the best talent in the business, but the kind of talent that will service each and every account with the same intensity and drive that TBWA\Chiat\Day demands," said Rob Schwartz. "The appointment of Al Kelly and promotion of Patrick as CO-ECDs puts in place the talent needed to grow and better serve our clients."

TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles has also added several new creatives to its digital team including: Jason Nichols, who joins as Creative Director from RGA; Mike Kohlbecker, who joins as ACD from Crispin Porter Bogusky; Alexandra Sann, who joins as ACD from Deutsch; and Dustin Artz, who joins as Art Director from Team One.

"With the addition of Jason, Mike, Alexandra and Dustin we are doing more than augmenting our digital capabilities, we're building a Media Arts practice. Each new person we are bringing in can tell brand stories in all forms of media," said Schwartz.

About Rob Schwartz

Rob Schwartz (43) was previously Executive Creative Director of the office and has been a key creative force behind Pepsi's most recent "refresheverything" campaign, Nissan's global, long-running SHIFT_ campaign, the "More People Go with Visa," campaign, and pretty much everything else that comes out of the LA office. Rob will continue to act as Global Creative Director for both the Visa and Nissan accounts.

Prior to joining at TBWA\Chiat\Day as an Associate Creative Director in 1998, Rob was a creative director at Team One, helping to build both Lexus and adidas into major brands

About Al Kelly

Al Kelly (43) was most recently Executive Creative Director of Fallon, Minneapolis. Prior to joining Fallon, Kelly was ECD with StrawBerryFrog's Amsterdam working on clients such as Heineken and Barilla Pasta, among others. Prior to that, he served at Omnicom Group's Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco, working as GCD on accounts such as Comcast, Hewlett-Packard, Nike and Saturn.

About Patrick O'Neill

Patrick O'Neill (43) was previously Group Creative Director for Visa and Sara Lee. Prior to joining the Los Angeles office Patrick served as Executive Creative Director at TBWA\Chiat\Day New York working on ABSOLUT and Joe Boxer, among others. Prior to joining TBWA\Chiat\Day he worked as an Associate Creative Director at Deutsch, contributing to memorable campaigns such as Ikea, Kohler and Clinton/Gore '92.

Previously, Patrick and Al were partners at O&M, NY (1991-92) and won several awards on the Crunch Fitness and Dead Comics Society campaigns.

About TBWA\Chiat\Day

TBWA\Chiat\Day is part of TBWA\Worldwide and was recently recognized second on Advertising Age magazine's exclusive A-List of top U.S. agencies.

TBWA Worldwide (www.tbwa.com), part of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) (www.omnicomgroup.com), creates Disruptive Ideas for global clients, including ABSOLUT, adidas, Apple, Beiersdorf, Henkel, Infiniti, Mars, McDonald's, Michelin, Nissan, Pernod Ricard, Pioneer, Samsonite, Standard Chartered Bank, Singapore Airlines, Sony PlayStation and Visa. TBWA is one of the fastest-growing networks in the Top-Five worldwide advertising agencies, and was named "2008 Global Agency of the Year" by Advertising Ageand Adweek magazines. Fast Company magazine placed TBWA 24th on its 2009 list of "The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies." TBWA has 267 offices in 77 countries, and approximately 12,000 employees worldwide.

SOURCE TBWA Worldwide