Michael Raso Heads to mcgarrybowen to Lead Global Creative on American Express

By Patrick Coffee 

When mcgarrybowen pulled a stealth move on Ogilvy this summer and won the global AmEx brand work out from under its nose, we knew the agency would need to name a new lead on what has been one of the biggest global creative account wins so far this year.

This week, Michael Raso joined the New York office as global ECD on the business. Adweek first broke the news this morning.

Raso (portfolio here) was most recently EVP/ECD at Crispin Porter + Bogusky. During his four-year tenure there, he worked on campaigns for big clients like Kraft Mac & Cheese and Xbox One while also helping to lead the global pitches for American Airlines and Infiniti, which we all know went to 72andSunny at some point earlier this year.

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Here’s what the Australian native (who worked under David Droga way back in the day) had to say about his new role:

“As a member since 1997, I’ve always been a fan of American Express. I looked forward to getting my Departures issue every month and am now looking forward to the opportunity to be part of the history of this iconic brand at mcgarrybowen.”

From agency chairman Gordon Bowen:

“I am thrilled to welcome Michael to the mcgarrybowen family. His innate taste, talent, global experience, leadership skills and his downright passion for American Express is genuinely inspiring.”

Raso was very much in demand. We learned that he had been in talks with mcgarrybowen for some time before accepting an unspecified gig at Huge. Then, when the offer from the former agency became official, he broke it off with the IPG shop. A Huge spokesperson said, “We were unaware that Michael was still in talks with mcgarrybowen when he accepted a role with us.”

On that note, we have learned a bit more about how mcgarrybowen won the AmEx business in the first place. According to several people with knowledge of the deal, Bowen himself had been in talks with AmEx executives—many of whom already knew him well from his time running creative on the account at Ogilvy—for months before the switch became official in June.

As we hear it, Ogilvy had no knowledge of these negotiations. Both agencies and client reps have declined to comment.

[Pic via]

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