McCann Worldgroup has added a new role to its executive team, appointing Nathan Brown as global chief audience architect, effective May 1. The agency has also promoted Michelle Tang to global chief growth officer, McCann.
In the new position, Brown will be responsible for building an audience planning global practice that provides a deep understanding of people and their behavior across devices, content and platforms, according to McCann. He will connect all the disciplines across McCann Worldgroup that have audience expertise into a global community, mobilizing the agency around audience planning.
McCann stated that the approach will benefit existing and new clients by providing an analysis of their current and potential future audiences.
“Nathan knows the power of audience understanding to unlock significant growth for brands, and he will bring this fluency in audience connection to a very receptive community here at McCann Worldgroup,” said Daryl Lee, CEO of McCann Worldgroup and McCann in a statement.
Brown moves to McCann Worldgroup from sibling IPG agency Universal McCann (UM), where he served for two years as the media company’s global chief strategy officer, working with brands including J&J and American Express. Prior to UM, Brown spent six years as U.S. CEO of Omnicom media agency PHD. He began his career in his native Australia, working for several agencies in planning, strategy and new business roles before moving to the U.S. to lead communications planning for J3, UM’s dedicated unit for J&J.
Brown will also lead strategic growth for the McCann Worldgroup network globally.
“Finding the sweet spot between what audiences and brands want is the key to modern growth planning,” said Brown in a statement. “I’m excited to build even more of that muscle out at McCann Worldgroup to help our clients grow.”
Since joining McCann as chief growth officer, North America from Digitas in 2022, Tang has helped secure McCann’s recent wins, including Smirnoff, Prudential and Post Consumer Brands. In her expanded role, she will serve as the central point of contact for the network’s global new business pitches and lead the new business function across McCann and McCann Worldgroup globally. Tang has a 15-plus-year track record of helping agencies grow, with experience at holding companies and agencies including FCB, Organic, Wunderman Thompson and others.
“Michelle Tang is on fire,” added Lee. “In just one short year, she has proven herself an incredible leader in new business, amassing an impressive track record of wins in the U.S. She is an expert at bringing teams together around powerful brand platforms and helping them shape compelling growth solutions for new clients. I am excited to see her lead the new business community globally to new heights.”
In addition, Marcy Q. Samet, the current chief growth and development officer for McCann Worldgroup, who previously served as global CMO at MRM, will move into a new role supporting IPG with high-impact growth initiatives, with a focus on enterprise-wide commerce.