VMLY&R New York Hires Creative Lead From McCann

The agency hired Wayne Best from McCann New York as VMLY&R New York’s CCO, a new role as VMLY&R continues to build its leadership team in New York. Best will be tasked with overseeing creative for the office across a client roster including Dell while reporting directly to VMLY&R New York CEO and VMLY&R North America co-CCO Jason Xenopoulos.

“Wayne has proven himself to be an excellent creative leader with the ability to deliver creatively celebrated work that is highly effective,” Xenopoulos said in a statement. “I am confident that his addition to our team in New York will continue to accelerate our abilities to produce groundbreaking work that shines a light on the future of our industry and drives real growth for Dell and our other clients.”

“Smart, talented people. Great clients. And an agency that has already made a seismic shift to adapt to the future of marketing. What’s not to love?”Best added. “I’m looking forward to working with the team to take VMLY&R to the next level.”

Best spent a year at McCann New York working on the Verizon account and was promoted to deputy co-CCO back in April. Before that he served as creative lead on Walmart working with Saatchi, Publicis, and partner agencies to help alter perception of the brand.

Prior to joining Walmart, Best co-founded his own agency in New York called Cog. He previously spent time in executive creative director roles at JWT New York and Taxi. During his time at JWT, he worked on the CBS animated holiday special “Yes, Virginia” for Macy’s.

Over the course of his career, Best has worked with clients including Coca-Cola, Pepsi, JetBlue, ESPN, Starbucks, Cadbury, Virgin Mobile, Staples, AT&T, Fox Sports, Halls, Adopt US Kids and GoDaddy. He also served five years as chair of the AdCouncil’s creative review committee and was a mentor in the 4A’s Institute for Advanced Advertising Studies program.