King Thomas Takes Over Creative At McCann Flagship

One rules with her head; the other, with her heart. One is a rough-and-tumble Brooklyn native; the other grew up in the heartland.

But McCann Erickson New York’s Nina DiSesa and her hand-picked successor as creative chief, Missouri-bred Joyce King Thomas, last week said both styles have helped make the creative culture at McCann more nurturing and collegial—after a period in the ’90s that, according to DiSesa, saw growing pains marked by a quick succession of creative directors and internal power struggles.

“It was an office of fiefdoms, each operating independently and sometimes in competition with each other,” she said.