Jack Morton’s First Global Chief Creative Officer Heads In-House to SmileDirectClub

By Patrick Coffee 

Here’s another interesting twist on the in-housing trend: longtime agency creative Bruce Henderson has moved client-side to become the first chief creative officer for SmileDirectClub, the “market leader and pioneer of doctor-directed, remote invisible aligner therapy,” or transparent braces.

He was most recently global CCO at IPG experiential agency Jack Morton.

This news comes as part of an announcement that the Nashville-based company would be beefing up its marketing team by promoting Josh Chapman to chief global brand officer and former chief digital officer John Sheldon to CMO. The latter formerly worked with FreshDirect and MasterCard, among others. 

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The company is a major advertiser on cable news programs. In the past, it has worked with New York firm Gin Lane, as noted in this case study.

Last month, SmileDirectClub also hired a new international president and chief technology officer while promoting chief development and people officers from within. It cited “a rapidly growing customer base” and “international expansion” as the reasons behind these moves. Last October it publicized a $3.2 billion valuation after receiving $380 million in private equity investments from Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, Kleiner Perkins and Spark Capital.

Henderson joined Jack Morton as that shop’s first-ever creative chief in late 2015 after holding the same position at WPP’s Geometry Global. He previously served as senior creative and partner at Ogilvy, but one of his main passions is singing and songwriting, which makes Nashville a natural destination.

“Yes, Bruce Henderson has left Jack Morton for an exciting new client-side opportunity,” said agency CEO Josh McCall. “He might have left the Big Apple for Music City, but he certainly won’t be forgotten for the great contributions he made to our agency. The search for a new chief creative officer is a priority and is well underway.”

For its most recent campaign, SmileDirectClub teamed up with teen pop star Shawn Mendes in an ad that debuted during Sunday’s Grammy Awards.

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