Deep Focus Hires John Reid as U.S. Chief Creative Officer

By Erik Oster 

Engine Group’s Deep Focus hired John Reid as U.S. chief creative officer, solidifying a leadership team that began to take shape with the hire of New York president Kara O’Neill last year.

In the role, Reid will lead creative across Deep Focus’s client roster, which includes Nestlé, Frito-Lay, eBay, Intel and Purina, while reporting directly to CEO Ian Schafer.

“John’s unique mix of traditional and digital brand-building experience makes him well-positioned to further establish Deep Focus as a world-class integrated creative agency,” Schafer said in a statement, adding that he sees Reid’s hire as a turning point and that Deep Focus has begun to compete more directly with “traditional” agencies for new business — especially over the past year.

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Schafer said:

“There are instances where we’ve been brought on as a social agency and ended up as lead creative agency. It seems like everything is up for grabs to everyone in many cases as long as you meet the minimum requirements. … The RFPs we’ve been getting over the past year have been vaguer than ever before, and I see that as an opportunity.”

Reid fills a role left vacant since Engine Group spun off Deep Focus’ content creation studio, Moment Studio, as a separate Engine Group unit with Ken Kraemer serving as CEO.

“It’s been quite a long journey in hiring someone [to replace Kraemer],” Schafer told Adweek. “We’re happy to have found the right person.”

Reid has served as executive vice president, chief creative officer for Wunderman since July of 2010, working with clients including P&G, Audi, Campbell’s V8, E*Trade, the Ad Council, AARP, BMO Harris Bank, Johnson and Johnson and Land Rover. Before joining Wunderman he served short stints as a creative director with ATTIK, working with Toyota, TiVo, Lucas Arts, OnLive, Ubisoft and HBO, and a freelance creative director with CP+B before that, working with Microsoft, American Express, Best Buy, Burger King and Coke Zero.

Prior to that he spent over six and half years as a vice president, associate creative director with McCann Erickson, where he worked with Microsoft, HP, the Oakland A’s, Nortel, and AMD.

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