Commonwealth Appoints Gary Pascoe Chief Creative Officer, North America

DETROIT, July 24, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Commonwealth, a division of McCann Worldgroup, today announced the appointment of Gary Pascoe to Chief Creative Officer for North America.  Pascoe, previously Executive Creative Director and Executive VP at JWT/Team Detroit, will be responsible for creative oversight of Commonwealth's consolidated business in North America.

"Gary is an incredible talent who is going to bring the kind of creative passion and leadership that will help define Commonwealth moving forward and build on the momentum we have seen over the last few months," said Linus Karlsson, Chief Creative Officer, Global Brands. "He is behind some of the best work in the category and we are incredibly happy to have him join the team and help us tell the Chevrolet brand story in exciting new ways."

Pascoe's advertising career began in the mailroom of Doner, Detroit. Pursuing his passion for copywriting, he joined TBWA in St. Louis and then The Richards Group in Dallas. Pascoe joined TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles in 1997 and, over his eight years at the shop, worked on high-profile campaigns for Weather.com, Nissan and Taco Bell (the "Chihuahua" campaign). He helped to re-launch Levi's and worked on Sony PlayStation. In 2005, Pascoe returned home to Michigan and, while at BBDO Detroit, he worked on Jeep, Chrysler, Dodge, and AT&T. He moved in 2010 to Team Detroit, where he was responsible for Ford Cars, North America, and helped launch Ford's first-ever global advertising campaign for the Ford Focus.

In addition to the appointment of Pascoe, Commonwealth has also appointed Bob Guisgand, Duffy Patten and Erika Kayuk as Creative Directors. They join a creative department of approximately 60 individuals with responsibility for the Chevrolet brand, nameplate, promotional and retail advertising activity—including digital and social— across North America. Pascoe will work alongside Karlsson, Andreas Dahlqvist, Deputy Chief Creative Officer, Global Brands, and Matt Canzano, Deputy Chief Creative Officer, who jointly run creative leadership for Commonwealth globally.

Bill Kolb, Chairman and CEO of Commonwealth, said, "We have in place a strong and passionate group of creative leaders around the world. I believe, under their leadership, Commonwealth is perfectly positioned to continue to build upon the outstanding success we have and deliver effective, forward-thinking strategic and creative solutions to help lead our work for GM and Chevrolet."

Patten, a copywriter, was most recently a Creative Director at Fallon, Minneapolis. Prior to Fallon, he served as an Associate Creative Director at Campbell Ewald, Detroit, where he was responsible for developing television, print and interactive advertising for Chevrolet cars, including the successful launches of Malibu and Camaro. He was also an ACD at BBDO Detroit and McCann Detroit, and a copywriter at Leo Burnett and Doner. Earlier in his career, he worked as a designer at Porsche Engineering.

Guisgand is an art director by training. Most recently, he was a Creative Director at Fallon, Minneapolis. Prior to that, he was an Associate Creative Director at Campbell Ewald, Detroit, where he was responsible for developing television, print and interactive advertising for Chevrolet cars, including the successful launches of Malibu and Camaro. He was also an ACD at BBDO Detroit and McCann Detroit, and an art director at Leo Burnett and Doner.

Kayuk will focus on Chevy.com. An art director and designer, she was previously a Creative Director at Organic, where she also served as an ACD and senior designer. Prior to that, she taught interactive design as a faculty member at the College For Creative Studies, worked as a senior art director at Team Detroit, and was an interaction designer at Digitas.

"This is a very exciting time for the Commonwealth team.  With the recent consolidation of the North American Chevrolet business under Commonwealth and McCann Worldgroup, we are continually looking for the best creative talent in the business.  Gary, Bob, Duffy and Erika join an already stellar group of digital and integrated creatives who are focused on collaboratively delivering work we can all be proud of," said Kate MacNevin, Executive VP, Managing Director of North America, Commonwealth.

McCann Worldgroup, part of Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG), is a leading global marketing company with 23,000 employees in more than 120 countries comprising McCann Erickson (advertising), MRM (digital marketing/relationship management), Momentum (event marketing/promotion), McCann Health (professional/dtc communications), CRAFT (global adaptation and production), UM (media management), Weber Shandwick (public relations), and FutureBrand (consulting/design).

SOURCE McCann Worldgroup