Canada-based WPP agency Blast Radius hired Kevin Drew Davis as chief creative officer, tasked with leading creative across its offices in Vancouver, Toronto and Chicago for accounts including BMW Canada, Lavazza and Huawei.
Davis joins Blast Radius from DDB San Francisco, where he was promoted to chief creative officer last July. He spent most of the last four years in various creative leadership roles with the agency’s offices in Canada, San Francisco and Chicago, where he worked on McDonald’s.
The new CCO has focused on the digital side of things for most of his career.
Before joining DDB, he spent two years as executive vice president, executive creative director with DigitasLBi in Chicago and San Francisco. After beginning his career at GSD&M, where he served as creative technologies director, he later spent six years as global digital creative director at Wieden+Kennedy, working with clients including Nike, Coca-Cola, ESPN, Microsoft, Calvin Klein, Audi and Miller and later rejoining the Portland office as a director of digital. After that he moved on to similar roles at Publicis Seattle, FCB Chicago and DigitasLBi.
Davis told Adweek Blast Radius has “all the tools that CMOs are looking for,” adding, “the key is putting creative on top of it. I think it’s easier to add creative to data than the other way around.” But one of his key reasons for switching agencies was the appeal of home.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Kevin to the Chicago office,” Blast Radius U.S. managing director Lothar Boensch said in a statement. “He’s a proven creative leader with deep roots in social, digital, data and experience design—exactly what our clients need in order to achieve the awareness and recognition they’re looking for.”
“Kevin’s career spans brand communications, digital and traditional, which makes him a ‘triple threat’ and the perfect fit for our clients who are hoping to make maximum impact with their consumers in new and unconventional ways,” Blast Radius Canada president Michel Sergio added.
He will be first to hold the CCO title for the agency in over six years since Chip Reingold left to lead Cibo (which is also headquartered in San Francisco) in 2011.