McCann's Matt Woehrmann Joins Independent Agency Doe-Anderson

Yet another long-time holding company veteran is joining an independent agency. After spending more than 20 years working at McCann Worldgroup managing iconic brands like Coca-Cola, Matt Woehrmann is joining the leadership team at Doe-Anderson, a 106-year-old independent agency based in Kentucky. Woehrmann will be tasked with leading the agency’s integrated business for bourbon brand Maker’s Mark and its parent company Beam Suntory. As a new addition to the leadership team, he will also be charged with further expanding the agency’s capabilities for work with global brands and clients. Seeking talent not bouncing from shop to shop This newly created role was a “perfect match” for Woehrmann and his background, according to Doe-Anderson evp and CCO Leyla Touma Daily. His experience leading marketing efforts for global brands including Coca-Cola, Chevrolet, Microsoft, L’Oréal, Unilever and Johnson & Johnson demonstrated he has the leadership skills necessary for the role. "It’s not just that,” she said. “In larger cities, people just bounce and bounce to other agencies. That is fine in New York and Chicago. We are trying to build a place with shared values, empathy and great work. Matt has those qualities.” Most recently, Woehrmann served as CEO at a McCann subsidiary, Fitzco, where he led a team of more than 150. He departed in 2020 after the agency founder, David Fitzgerald, repurchased it. Another key asset to his resume is his DEI advocacy, Todd Spencer, CEO of Doe-Anderson told Adweek. “Matt’s work co-founding Advertising for Change is an advantage to help us improve our DEI efforts.” After spending the pandemic reevaluating his next steps, Doe-Anderson reached out to Woehrmann as the agency sought to expand client partnerships. “The timing was perfect,” Spencer said. “True leaders understand how important the client relationship is.” To underscore that point, Spencer noted that the agency has represented Maker’s Mark for 50 years. “When we started it was basically a local, regional brand,” he said. “Over time it has grown into a global brand, and we’re also working with Jim Beam and others in the portfolio. There is a need for us to continue to expand our capabilities and perspectives.” Hard to thrive in smallness Woehrmann, for his part, was drawn to the company’s heritage, culture and less corporate structure. He joked that his contract with IPG ran 59 pages while his new contract at Doe-Anderson was three. “We are 100% employee owned,” Woehrmann told Adweek. “Employees don’t leave, and it is different when they are invested in their company.” There are other advantages of not working under a holding company, he said. “It is hard to be a small agency in a company where everything is about being big. It is hard to thrive in smallness when the [parent company] is all about scale, major global clients across multiple countries." Doe-Anderson, by comparison, is the largest small agency, Woehrmann said. According to Spencer, the agency has made the right investments over time to do world class work from their independent position in the industry. He added that there are many holding company staffers expressing interest in joining their team. “We have the opportunity to be a little more nimble and that benefits the client,” he said. Touma Dailey herself is one of those jumpers. She spent most of her career at Publicis-owned agencies, including Digitas and Leo Burnett. Spencer told Adweek that Doe-Anderson has been inundated with resumes as talent seeks to make an impact on a local scale. "We continue to invest to make sure we have the right talent in house to serve our clients’ growing needs," he said. "Fifteen years ago, the agency had 25 unique titles across a staff of 75 and now there are more than 80 different titles across our staff of 150 people." “We have a lot of specialists,” he quipped. Talent sticks around for a while. Spencer himself is only the sixth CEO since 1915. Still, he admits it is a challenge to locate the right talent. "It is important to have big agency and big brand experience [but] they must understand the independent mindset and culture.” Independent Agencies are flooded with resumes

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McCann Worldgroup Leader Matt Woehrmann Joins Independent Agency Doe-Anderson

Former Coca-Cola global lead moves to 106-year-old Kentucky-based company

Seeking talent not bouncing from shop to shop

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