Mark Modesto, the Draftfcb vet who was perhaps a casualty of the agency’s North American “realignment” in August 2010, has found a new gig as president of MARC USA’s Chicago office. In turn, he replaces Jean McLaren, who has been MARC’s Chicago president for the past eight years and is now moving up to the role of CMO at the agency.
Modesto of course spent 30 years at Draftfcb, starting in account management at Foote Cone & Belding in 1980, then eventually helping integrate the Chicago offices of Draft and FCB and finally serving as president of Draftfcb North America before allegedly being shown the door. Modesto has an ally in former SC Johnson chief exec Bill Perez, who worked with the Draft alum for 15 years and says in a statement, “Mark understands the importance of building a true partnership with his clients. He gets the fast-changing dynamics of the advertising industry and how to help marketers invest in solutions that meet both immediate and long term goals.” It’s been said by quite a few that Modesto’s departure from Draftfcb may have had some influence in SC Johnson’s decision to begin looking for a new agency.
Anyhow, joining Modesto at MARC Chicago is John Immesoete, who is returning to the agency world and taking on the role of SVP, executive creative director. Before heading into the commercial writing/directing world, Immesoete served as group creative director at DDB Chicago, where he ran the Anheuser-Busch and McDonald’s accounts and helped create campaigns including “Real Men of Genius.”