JWT announced that James Cooper has joined the agency’s New York office as chief creative innovation officer. Cooper, who we now recognize from Matt O’Rourke’s going away party (blatant shout-out), arrives from Saatchi & Saatchi, where he spent the past the past 18 months as a integrated creative director and led campaigns including JCPenney’s “Return to the Doghouse” and Wheaties’ “The Most Valuable Tweeter.”
Prior to Saatchi, Cooper spent nearly three years as a CD at Dare, London (where he helped the shop win “Digital Agency of the Decade” nods from Campaign), and was a creative partner at Anomaly for a brief while. In addition to Cooper, JWT’s North American CEO and worldwide digital director David Eastman announced that Beth Waxman-Arteta and Iris Worldwide alum John Baker will take on the roles of co-presidents of client services at JWT, effective Nov. 1.
Update: According to a source familiar with the matter, Graf’s departure definitely had an impact on staff as we’ve been told that Dan Kelleher, CD on Miller and Alison Gragnano, CD on Gen Mills, both quit earlier this year. The pair were the two most senior creatives under new CCO Con Williamson, who we hear is a nice guy but has been put in a tough spot in the post-Graf era.