Wieden+Kennedy President Colleen DeCourcy Will Retire From Advertising

Colleen DeCourcy, the creative trailblazer who has led Wieden+Kennedy through one of its most successful eras, announced today she is stepping down from her role at the agency and will retire from the advertising industry. DeCourcy told Adweek, which named her Creative Leader of the Decade in 2019, that her decision to move on was based on several factors. One key reason is that there is now a clear line of succession, as she has been working closely with current global chief operating officer Neal Arthur and global chief creative officer Karl Lieberman to establish them as the independent agency's top executives on day-to-day decision making. Her process has been similar to that of agency co-founder Dan Wieden after hiring DeCourcy in 2013. She said she believes that leaders have a responsibility to build companies that can grow beyond them, as Wieden and David Kennedy did when they transitioned out of leadership of the agency they founded in 1982. “It’s been a labor of love. I always used to say, 'I'm going to do this for all I'm worth, and when I find somebody who can replace me, I will put them in,'" she said. "And these two guys are magic. It's been a long-term plan. I do feel we're leaving the company in great hands.” Another reason is that she wants to spend more time on other creative pursuits not directly related to an agency, including continuing as a board member for advocacy group Time's Up. A legacy of ideas DeCourcy described her time at Wieden+Kennedy as the greatest privilege of her career. She said she sees her legacy at W+K as one of preparing the agency for the future. “Letting people know that it was about the aggregate of everyone in the company, that the foundational layer of values and mission and craft that Dan and Dave had gifted us was for all of us to carry forward, that we were all founders now,” DeCourcy said. Another theme she sees in looking back on her time at the agency was sustaining creativity through change—and recognizing that change doesn’t mean losing the special nature of what came before. “I really hope that my legacy is that you can do that kind of shakedown and keep the magic and grow the magic and have the magic flourish. People are too afraid of change. And I'm hoping that I've proven that you don't have to be,” DeCourcy said. One of the most influential women in advertising history, DeCourcy said it has been deeply meaningful for her “to be sitting at the top of an agency, to be someone who didn't play by the rules, who didn't look like the usual, who didn't have the same kind of book as the standard, to be able to make it through the gauntlet to get to something that I really cared about and loved. And to bring other people like me with me.” DeCourcy’s independence and hard work came from early expectations that nothing would come easy in life, or in an industry with entrenched male leadership and an often toxic image of power. “I woke up every day thinking I had to prove I had a right to be standing wherever I was. So I didn't get my feelings hurt very easily. And I didn't give up very easily," she said. "If you truly don't give a shit about the power, if that's not why you're here—you're here because you want to do something that matters, you want to bring people like you with you, and you want to make work that people care about—if that's your focus, you'll make it; you'll survive." From Canadian receptionist to global leader DeCourcy’s first advertising industry job was in 1986 as a receptionist at Canadian agency Saffer Cravit & Freedman. From there, she went into broadcast media at CBC TV/Variety, and later worked with a concert promoter. She returned to advertising with small agency Spafax, getting promoted to creative director. From there she went to digital shop Organic in Toronto, which later became part of BBDO, and then she took on the chief experience officer role at JWT New York. DeCourcy’s forward-thinking ways led her to take a job in 2007 as TBWA\Worldwide’s first chief digital officer, as she saw early on that digital would be a disruptor with limitless possibilities. That connected her with major brands including Pepsi, Nissan and Adidas. “I went over to the digital side of the business because it was clear that was a truck that was coming to hit us,” DeCourcy said. In 2011, DeCourcy left TBWA and started her own social media content and design shop, Socialistic, where she served as chief creative officer and CEO. In 2012, she wrote an anonymous essay for Digiday called “Confessions of a Female Ad Exec” about the industry being a men’s club of sorts. But after seeing the editor had removed what she considered a crucial piece—her recollection of a man in advertising saying he could choke her with her necklace during sex—she revealed herself as the author, and Digiday published the essay in full. The piece—coming five years before the #MeToo movement forced industries like advertising into a reckoning—sparked some controversy and a much-needed dialogue about harassment. Dan Wieden appreciated DeCourcy’s bravery, creativity and bold thinking, and in 2013 he hired her as global executive creative director as he looked to step back from hands-on leadership. During her tenure at W+K, DeCourcy led an agency that produced some truly visionary work, including groundbreaking digital campaigns for KFC, Coca-Cola and of course, Nike, including a 2019 Cannes Lions Grand Prix win for the Colin Kaepernick “Dream Crazy” campaign and a 2021 Film Grand Prix for "You Can't Stop Us." She also helped land big new business wins including Airbnb, Visa and Facebook. W+K was named Agency of the Year multiple times by several publications, including two years in a row by Adweek. Thoughts on the future In retirement, one thing DeCourcy said she will not do is lead another agency, because it would be difficult to follow heading up Wieden+Kennedy. “I am not really looking to have another big career moment. But I am still young and smart and interested in creative. So, I think I will probably do a portfolio of things,” she said, adding she wants to spend more time with her dogs, take time for herself and apply her creativity in places that are enjoyable to her. “I'll be rooting for Wieden from the sidelines and always be its biggest champion. You never really leave Wieden+Kennedy,” she said. In terms of parting thoughts for the ad industry, DeCourcy had this to share: “The industry has to remember that we succeed because we're creative people. That creativity often can get easily squashed against the concerns of time and money in business. And that if there is something that wins in this industry, it's that we have always, almost blindly, believed that creativity could solve anything. And the second we deprioritize our own creativity, devalue it, we're done." W+K’s Colleen DeCourcy on Risk, Responsibility and Change What colleagues are saying DeCourcy is highly respected in the industry, and several big compliments from co-workers came in when she decided to announce her retirement. “Colleen is an absolute legend. We're so grateful for how much she's done for this place—and I am deeply appreciative for all that she’s done for me personally. It’s exciting to know that she will be out in the world, imposing her will (making impact) on spaces beyond advertising,” Neal Arthur, W+K global COO, said in a statement.“She’s led the way in showing that it’s not about micromanaging this place or giving it some sort of narrow idea about what it should be, it's about giving people the space, the support and the perspective they need to do the job in their own way. She's opened a lot of doors for a lot of people in this company. The opportunity she’s given me and others since she started here is incredible. I’ll forever be grateful for that,” added Karl Lieberman, W+K global CCO, in a statement. “Joining any organization at the top is tricky. Joining W+K at the time Colleen did, as the global ecd charged with helping the agency evolve its output and become more digitally fluent is an act for Philippe Petit or Johnny Knoxville. But Colleen came in with the resolve and enthusiasm of a change agent. She provoked, prodded and led this agency (and the industry for that matter) in immeasurable and lasting ways over the last nine years. For that and more, we are forever grateful and wish her all the best in retirement,” Tom Blessington, W+K chairman, said in a statement. Dave Luhr, retired former chairman and president of W+K, stated: “Standing still in the ad business is the quickest path to irrelevance. Colleen pushed all of us to no longer be nervous about the future but to jump right in and put our arms around it. To take a leap of faith and embrace change. And we did just that. It’s fitting that she is doing that now, leaving the comforts of W+K and advertising." Adweek Creative Leader of the Decade: Colleen DeCourcy