Internal Memo: McCann’s Former Global Coca-Cola Account Lead Heads to Google

By Patrick Coffee 

Dhane Scotti, who spent nearly three years leading the global Coca-Cola business for McCann Worldwide in Atlanta, announced last week that he had departed for a gig at Google.

He’s now on the global integrated marketing team at the Mountain View tech giant, as noted on his personal Instagram page.

The news comes just over 10 months after Scotti was promoted from EVP to lead the Coke business. The now-former agency executive, who in Adweek’s recent Young Influentials list said his mother never wanted him to go into advertising, was formerly with BBDO.

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As he told us, he joined the Omnicom shop to work on Bud Light right before the “removing ‘no’ from your vocabulary” controversy that the client laid at the feet of its creative AOR. BBDO lost the account soon afterward, but luckily McCann still had a job for him at Fitzco in Atlanta.

An internal memo written by McCann president of global clients and business leadership Nannette LaFond-Dufour credited Scotti with “strong business growth and creative innovation from our Coca-Cola teams around the world.”

The agency is still looking to either hire or promote from within for a new Coke account lead.

Scotti declined to comment on his new job, as did a McCann spokesperson. Here’s the full memo :

Dear Leaders,

For those of you not aware, I wanted to share the news that Dhane Scotti will be leaving McCann Worldgroup to pursue a new opportunity at Google. Dhane has been an integral part of the Coca-Cola business for the past three years. Initially, he worked closely alongside Matt Woehrmann in Atlanta, co-leading this very important business for our agency. Quickly, Dhane was promoted to EVP, Global Executive Business Lead.

With Dhane’s guidance, and in partnership with Craig Bagno (Global Chief Strategy Officer for Coca-Cola), we have seen strong business growth and creative innovation from our Coca-Cola teams around the world. In the last three years, we’ve won more global charter assignments than any other Coca-Cola agency, and we’ve extended our Coca-Cola business in MRM//McCann and Weber Shandwick. We are proud to be Coca-Cola’s strongest Effie partner, winning significantly more Effies for them than any other agency. Beyond Dhane’s impact on the business, we have all benefited from his humanity and energy.

As we work to find a new leader on the Coca-Cola business, please join me in thanking Dhane for his contributions to McCann. We wish him the best, both professionally and personally, as he heads to Silicon Valley to take on a new senior leadership position. In the meantime, if you have any questions regarding our Coca-Cola business, please contact me.

Regards,

Nannette LaFond-Dufour
President, Global Clients & Business Leadership McCann Worldgroup

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