MRM//McCann, the digital and direct marketing wing of the McCann Worldwide organization, hired Jeff Cruz to serve as its new EVP/chief creative officer in its Detroit office.
Cruz joins the McCann team from VSA Partners, where he spent five years as ECD and associate partner. While there, he helped open the privately owned agency’s Detroit office, focused on the Harley Davidson work (which won a Gold Effie in 2015) and helped win new accounts including the Cleveland Clinic.
Before that he was with Leo Burnett Detroit for more than a decade, where he eventually became SVP/group creative director and played an “integral” part in Cadillac’s 2002 comeback campaign “Break Through” starring Gary Sinise and Robert Plant.
He led the Pontiac business at Leo but also worked on such disparate accounts as Goodwrench and Whirlpool while contributing to new business pitches and helping the agency bring in its first revenue not related to General Motors in “nearly a decade.” His part in the pro-bono “I’m In” campaign for Detroit Public Schools brought Leo Burnett a Grand Effie in 2010.
Global creative chairman Rob Reilly calls Cruz, “Great person. Great hire,” and MRM Detroit president Tamy Harms says, “Not only is Jeff a brilliant leader and a creative genius, he’s also a key member of the Detroit community and continues to support the city and its endeavors.”
When last we heard from MRM//McCann, the shop had lost its portion of the Verizon FiOS direct marketing account to Rauxa. This news came a few months after Sung Chang left AKQA to become MRM New York’s newest chief creative officer.