Exclusive: Grey Hires CCO to Lead Pharma Business

Seeking to build on a series of account wins, Grey has hired Tim Jones as a chief creative to lead its global pharmaceutical advertising practice. Grey has hired Jones as CCO, pharma, tasking him with leading creative for the global pharmaceutical practice. Last year saw the addition of new clients including GSK, Lilly and Pfizer, for which Grey created the "Science Will Win" tagline. Grey was also awarded the Johnson & Johnson vaccine account last year. Jones began in the role last week and is the second recent creative leadership addition at Grey, following last month's hire of Andre Gray as Grey New York executive creative director. Once-in-a-career opportunity "I'm joining at a great time in that the machine is starting to go from a health point of view and it's about where we take it from here," Jones told Adweek, calling it a "once-in-a-career" opportunity to help market the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and BD Diagnostic's at-home Covid-19 test. "We are thrilled to welcome Tim to Grey. He has a reputation as an inspiring leader and a history of great work in and out of the pharma space," Grey New York CCO Justine Armour said in a statement. "My aim is for one creative standard across the agency, and Tim and I are very aligned on what great work looks like. I’m excited for what’s to come under his leadership." Jones joins Grey from McCann Health New York, where he served as executive creative director since 2019. Last year, Jones led work on the agency's "The Unfinished Votes" campaign with gun control advocacy nonprofit Change The Ref, which was awarded the Grand Prize in Social Good at the Andy Awards. Prior to McCann, Jones was svp, group creative director at Area23 and creative director at Havas Lynx Europe. He also serves as editor of advertising-health.com, an online platform dedicated to promoting thought leadership and creative growth for the healthcare communications industry. "My time at McCann was amazing. I learned so much from [McCann Health global CCO] Matt Eastwood, it was a career highlight," Jones told Adweek. "It was a big decision to leave that behind, but I think it was the right time and I'm leaving he agency in extremely capable hands." WPP Merges AKQA and Grey to Form AKQA Group Cross-pollination, new opportunities Around two years ago, Grey CEO Michael Houston announced the launch of Grey's health and wellness practice, envisioning an approach unifying the agency's offerings. "The last year or two on the health side, the leadership has been really focused on creating the stability that's going to mean Grey’s health division is a serious long-term player," Jones said, citing the agency building up its health and pharma business with strategists and behavioral health scientists. "The opportunity is now to make the creative match up with the strategy and insights and elevate that to the same level, and create some wonderful work out of it," he added. Jones explained that the openly-structured approach created unique opportunities through access to Grey clients such as Gillette and P&G, which let the agency consider a health angle across Grey's broader portfolio: "That’s our expertise, thinking about how we cross-pollinate that divide." As he looks to build up the practice, Jones said he will pursue new business opportunities focused on biotech, devices and diagnostic tools and innovation, while helping launch more brands for clients within the more traditional pharmaceutical space, including new treatments for Lilly. "The beauty is we get to pick and choose what's going to be the most creatively inspiring for the agency," Jones added. Fresh perspectives Jones joins Grey after a year emphasizing the importance of health practices. Agency networks were hit hard by client cuts during the pandemic. "There is no better time to be in health than now, with the global pandemic putting health and wellness in the forefront of everybody’s minds," Jones said. "It's so nice to see a shift in perception, especially in creatives who are now looking at this and thinking they'd rather work on a spectrum of brands that are maybe more meaningful and have a more altruistic approach." "I really want to help make Grey an attractive place for creatives to want to work in health," he added. Jones said that a crucial component of that would involve building programs to bring more diverse talent into the practice, particularly given widespread issues of systemic racism in healthcare. "There is a huge change in talent coming into this industry which will make work better, and it needs to get better," he said. "Two years from now we're going to see a big change."

Leadership & Talent

Exclusive: Grey Hires CCO to Lead Pharma Business

Tim Jones Joins Grey from McCann Health New York

Erik Oster

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Erik Oster