Verizon's McKechnie Steps Down as Chief Creative Officer

After six years as Verizon's chief creative officer, Andrew McKechnie is leaving the telecom brand, a company representative confirmed. McKechnie's departure comes after Verizon CMO Diego Scotti has made a number of "strategic changes" on the creative front. Under the marketing department's new direction, the Creative Marketing Group that McKechnie oversaw will be joining forces with the Marketing Activation team under the leadership of Kristin McHugh, svp, marketing activation and creative. "The goal is to accelerate our growth and bring our creative practice even closer to the business," said Scotti in a statement. McKechnie arrived at Verizon in 2017 after a celebrated three-year stint at Apple. He served as global group creative director and led the Design and Communications Group in Apple Marcom, a 60+ global team of writers, designers and art directors. The agency path His path to Apple and then Verizon started on the ad agency side. His career kicked into high gear when he joined FCB as a copywriter in January 2001. Other roles at BBDO, JWT, Modernista!, Y&R and DDB followed. At Verizon, McKechnie took that agency experience to form the brand's first in-house creative shop. The brand's creative focus has largely been aimed at being viewed as the leader in providing "reliable 5G coverage." It's something rivals AT&T and T-Mobile have been vying for as demands for faster internet speeds is one of the main obstacles to realizing Web3. In terms of success, one important measure is industry awards. Under McKechnie, Verizon claimed to have netted "30 advertising awards at every major awards show so far this year." Among the accolades the brand hung on its wall and placed on its shelves were several Golds at the ANDYs, the Clios and the One Show, a Yellow Pencil from D&AD, a People’s Voice at the Webby’s and an Effie recognizing marketing effectiveness. Those honors span projects from Unfolding Timbaland in support of the Samsung Galaxy Z series launch to AR experiences like Fortnite Stadium, H1DD3N and The Met Unframed as well as NFT collections for Valentine’s Day like Token of Love. The five-year plan is complete "When Andrew first joined the company, we laid out a five-year plan to build a world-class creative practice," Scotti said. "Andrew accomplished everything we set out to do, and more. Without Andrew’s leadership and vision, we wouldn’t be where we are today. We wish him the very best in his next chapter." It is not clear yet what that next chapter is. McKechnie did not return messages seeking comment. As for Verizon, "creativity remains critical to driving our business forward," Scotti said. That's the marching orders being given to McHugh as she brings marketing and creative under one set of eyes. McHugh is a 10-year veteran of Verizon. Like McKechnie, she came with deep experience at agencies including McCann and Y&R. "Kristin will work with our world-class team to continue delivering the caliber of brand-building creative and design Verizon has been awarded and known for," Scotti said, attempting to smooth the transition for a seamless combination of the two teams.

C-Suite

Andrew McKechnie Steps Down as Verizon Chief Creative Officer

Creative and marketing teams are being consolidated under Kristin McHugh

David Kaplan

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David Kaplan