Lars Bastholm Joins Cheil USA as Chief Creative Officer

NEW YORK, Dec. 12, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Buz Sawyer, President & Chief Executive Officer of Cheil – The Americas, has hired award-winning creative visionary Lars Bastholm as Chief Creative Officer of the new Cheil USA. Starting on January 2, 2012, Bastholm will partner with Dave Weaver, President of Cheil's One Agency, to re-launch that company as Cheil Worldwide's new US flagship, Cheil USA.

"Lars' incredible depth of creative experience, instinctive digital mind and broad perspective on the business of advertising will immensely impact Cheil's network of agency partners and clients," remarked Sawyer. "I have no doubt that Lars' creative genius combined with Dave's strategic vision will quickly transform Cheil USA into a creative powerhouse."

Bastholm will focus on establishing Cheil USA as a center of creative excellence. He will also help Sawyer elevate the creative integration across Cheil's Americas network, including Cheil Mexico, Cheil Brazil, Cheil Canada and Cheil Central America. Weaver will become Chief Executive Officer at Cheil USA. Maintaining the responsibilities of his position at the former One Agency, Weaver will manage the experiential marketing, design and advertising operations as well as the relationship with top client Samsung. Both Weaver and Bastholm will be based in New York and will report to Sawyer.

"When Buz told me about the 11 months he'd spent rebooting Cheil's operations in The Americas, I realized that signing up with Cheil USA would be akin to joining a start-up within a global agency network," Bastholm said. "After running large creative departments at Ogilvy and AKQA that is exactly what I was looking for - a chance to get my hands dirty again and build a creative organization that reflects the current state of advertising across any and all media."

A former Cyber Lions Jury President and three-time Cyber Lions Grand Prix winner, Bastholm has become one of the most highly awarded and internationally renowned creative leaders in the industry during his 16-year career. He joins Cheil USA following two years digitally transforming Ogilvy North America as Chief Digital Officer and fueling Ogilvy New York's growth as Chief Creative Officer, where he oversaw clients such as IKEA and American Express. Bastholm previously spent four years at AKQA, where he opened its New York office and helped land global agency of record accounts with Motorola, Coca-Cola and Smirnoff. Prior to AKQA, he started Grey Interactive in Scandinavia and then joined Framfab in Denmark as Creative Director, working on brands such as Nike and LEGO.

"I'm thrilled to have spent the past year getting One Agency into position to become the new Cheil USA, and more importantly, to attract a top creative such as Lars Bastholm," said Weaver. "Lars and I share Buz's passion for quality thinking and his vision for collective growth across the network, and we are itching to build an agency that helps brands add value to people's lives."

About Cheil USA

Cheil USA (formerly One Agency) helps brands add value to people's lives. A subsidiary of Cheil Worldwide, a global agency network with Korean roots, Cheil USA has experiential marketing, design and integrated advertising operations in New York and Dallas. Cheil USA contributes measurable value to top clients Samsung and Hankook Tires, as well as to the lives of their customers.

About Cheil – The Americas

Cheil – The Americas is in the ideas business, fueled by creative people and strategic business partners contributing measurable value to multinational clients and the lives of their customers. A subsidiary of Cheil Worldwide, a global agency network with Korean roots, Cheil – The Americas' agency partners include Cheil USA (formerly One Agency), The Barbarian Group, Cheil Mexico, Cheil Canada, Cheil Brazil and Cheil Central America.

SOURCE Cheil - The Americas