But the agency also has added plenty of new talent and promoted others, like Wilcox, who joined the agency in 2015 and rose to head of account management and is now CEO. In addition, Steve Zaroff, who joined in 2021 as chief strategy officer, has recently taken on the role of chief innovation officer, while Jonathan Santana was promoted from group creative director to executive creative director, a new position at the agency. Sam McCallum and Connor Keeshan were promoted from group account directors to heads of account management, and Paula Daly was hired as chief financial officer from Anomaly.
The agency of 200 continues to churn out inspiring creative work that gets results for clients including Kraft, VW and Oscar Mayer. Wilcox sees a bright future for the agency as it continues to grow its clientele and staff.
A focus on the agency and its people
JL is known for its creative output, but Wilcox and McCarthy want people to know more about the agency and how it drives business results for its clients.
“One of the key drivers of our success as an agency has been the types of client partners that we work with, and there’s one consistency across all of them—they’re endeavoring to do great creativity, and they believe fiercely that a great partnership is the only way to get there,” said Wilcox.
Wilcox believes McCarthy is the best person to lead business results while touting creativity.
“He is a natural strategic thinker, hyper-focused on creativity that impacts business. The more lifeblood we actually give creativity, we can actually prove that it drives brands and business,” said Wilcox, though she added that the agency needs to do a better job of telling people that.
“We get a lot of credit for our great work. I don’t know if people know enough about the story of our impacts on brands and business, so I’m hoping [McCarthy] can help to really elevate the role that we play in helping our clients achieve their goals,” said Wilcox.
The two also want people to get to know the people at the agency.
“I really want to celebrate more externally the power of our people within our walls. We have incredible thinkers and incredible people here, and I would love for more of the world to know about that,” said Wilcox.
McCarthy wants Johannes Leonardo to win quality new business, and that’s his strength.
