João Coutinho Joins Y&R as North American ECD Under Leslie Sims

By Erik Oster 

Today Y&R New York chief creative officer Leslie Sims, who joined the agency in that role back at the beginning of 2015, named João Coutinho to serve under her as North American executive creative director.

In the newly-created role, Coutinho will be tasked with overseeing creative and new business efforts across North America.

“João’s creative spirit is absolutely infectious,” Sims said in a statement. “He’s been the force behind ideas that have become part of culture and have truly engaged and touched people all over the world. We are so happy to welcome him on board as we strengthen our creative leadership in North America.”

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Coutinho joins Y&R from Grey New York, where he has served as a group creative director since February of 2014, working with clients including P&G, Volvo, Canon, Bosch and States United To Prevent Gun Violence.

Before joining Grey, he spent around two and a half years as creative lead for Ogilvy Brasil after working for Lowe and others in his native Portugal.

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