Tom Murphy, one of the creatives behind the “Fearless Girl” campaign, has been named chief creative officer at Wunderman Thompson North America.
Murphy spent the last 16 years at McCann—most recently as North American CCO—and has influenced creative talent over the course of his career. He has worked with brands including Verizon, Mastercard, Microsoft, Ulta Beauty, Lysol, Mucinex, MGM Resorts, NY Lottery, USPS and HomeGoods.
Murphy will report to CEO Audrey Melofchik—and take over duties that global chief creative officer Bas Korsten has been handling as acting NA CCO for most of the year.
“Growth challenges facing clients today require an agency partner steeped in expertise across their entire ecosystem, with creative firepower to ignite it in completely new ways,” said Melofchik in a statement. “From the moment I met Tom, I knew he was the perfect partner to lead WT NA—as we blaze a trail of inspiring creativity and growth with our client partners. He is an amazing thinker, leader and human being.”
McCann New York more than doubled in size during Murphy’s tenure as co-CCO of the office—and now he takes on a new challenge for the WPP agency.
“Wunderman Thompson has capabilities other agencies would kill for. I want to use them to create ideas other agencies would kill for,” said Murphy in a statement.
Murphy is proud of his work with “Fearless Girl,” which won 110 Cannes Lions, including seven Grand Prix, though he also noted his work on “Universal Love” for MGM Resorts that encouraged LGBTQ+ weddings—and a Sony smart phone campaign that commissioned Wes Anderson to create a stop motion film about imagination.
Murphy originally joined McCann as a group creative director in 2004, from DDB Chicago, where he worked on McDonald’s, Budweiser and Bud Light.
Wunderman Thompson North America is enjoying momentum with a series of new business wins, including Snap and Courvoisier, while expanding its portfolio of work for Pfizer, Samsung and Walgreens. In June, Wunderman Thompson was awarded the first B-to-B Grand Prix at Cannes for Sherwin-Williams Speaking in Color, a voice-activated AI color system.
The agency has been building out its bench of talent, with the additions of FCB’s business development leader, Laura Cona, as chief growth officer for Wunderman Thompson North America, BBDO ecd Susan Golkin for Wunderman Thompson New York, BBH LA creative lead Ned McNeilage as chief creative officer of Swift, a Wunderman Thompson Company—and Josh Loebner as global head of inclusive design. Earlier this year, the agency acquired influencer agency Village Marketing.