Johannes Leonardo appointed Andrew Dawson to the role of chief strategy officer. In the new role, Dawson will be responsible for developing agency business, brand and culture while working with its entire roster of clients. He will report directly to co-founders and chief creative officers Jan Jacobs and Leo Premutico.
Dawson arrives at Johannes Leonardo following a little over a year as a freelance strategy director and consultant, which followed a year-long stint as chief creative officer with luxury audio company Master & Dynamic. His duties while there included a mix of chief marketing officer and chief strategy officer responsibilities, he also oversaw internal creative teams and led copywriting for the brand. Prior to that, he spent a year as a strategist with Sylvain Labs, with responsibilities similar to a director of strategy. He has also served as a strategy director for strategic consultancy Undercurrent, associate planning director for R/GA, strategic planner for McCann Erickson and account planner for Draftfcb. Over the course of his career he has worked with such clients as Johnson & Johnson, Pepsi, Victoria’s Secret, Bloomberg, Chobani, E-Trade, Levi’s Land Rover and Weight Watchers.
“If you don’t get the strategy right, nothing else you do matters. Therefore, our bar for CSO has always been high. Andrew fits the bill,” Premutico told MediaPost. “His experience outside of communications strategy and in building brands, from both sides of the fence, will be a tremendous asset for our partners’ businesses and our own.”