Publicis Groupe hired Alex Lea as executive creative director for its Walmart account.
In the role, Lea will be based out of Saatchi & Saatchi’s New York office and work closely with other agencies servicing Walmart as part of Publcis’ dedicated unit DeptW, while reporting to Saatchi & Saatchi New York chief creative officer Javier Campopiano and Publicis New York chief creative officer Andy Bird.
“Andy and I are very excited to welcome Alex to the team. His relentless search for creative excellence and ability to tackle big business challenges make him a perfect fit,” Campopiano said in a statement.
“I’m thrilled to work with the talented team assembled across DeptW. I hope to harness the diverse skills across the team to make amazing things together,” Lea added.
Lea arrives from Grey New York, where he has led creative on the Ally Bank as group creative director since March of 2016. Before that he spent nine months as executive creative director for Erwin Penland’s New York office, where he worked with L.L. Bean.
The appointment marks a return for Publicis for Lea, who previously spent around three and a half years as a senior vice president, creative director for Saatchi & Saatchi, working with brands including Miller High Life, Keystone Light, Kraft’s Capri Sun, General Mills’ Fruitsnacks and Kool Aid. He left Saatchi in April of 2013 to join CP+B, where he served as a creative director and led creative on Kraft’s JELL-O brand and Microsoft Xbox, followed by a short stint as freelance creative director/art director with agencies including David&Goliath and Droga5.