Johannes Leonardo Hires First CMO to Ramp Up New Business

In its 16-year history, New York agency Johannes Leonardo never had a chief marketing officer. The creative shop let its work speak for itself while founders Leo Premutico and Jan Jacobs served as its faces and promoters.

The agency has gone through a few changes in the past couple of years, including losing chief creative officer Julia Neumann and elevating longtime employee Emily Wilcox to chief executive officer. Now, one of Johannes Leonardo’s first employees has returned to be its first CMO.

John McCarthy was one of the agency’s 10 initial employees, serving as general manager before leaving in 2016 to be svp of strategy for Y Media Labs and then president of DDB’s West Coast office in San Francisco.

In his new role, he will be tasked with shaping the agency brand and driving growth through new business development. As the first CMO, he brings a strategic perspective to the agency and fits with Wilcox’s growth plans.

Wilcox only worked with McCarthy for a few months before he left, but he made an indelible mark. She saw him in new business pitches and the energy, optimism and strategic thinking he brought, as well as an ability to dig in with the client and talk about their challenges while shaping the work.

“He’s an amazing new business leader, he’s a great partner for our clients, he brings a ton of great energy into the process,” Wilcox told Adweek, adding that new business can be a culture generator since everybody touches it. “So the person who leads that function can really have a big influence on the type of culture that you’re building. I know he’s going to be a great growth driver for us.”

McCarthy told Adweek that Johannes Leonardo holds a special place in his heart because he spent the formative years of his career there and learned what it took to start a business from scratch.

“When I started, we were about seven people. When I left, we were about 60. I’ve just been so excited and inspired by what the team has built since I left, so when this opportunity arose to come back and be able to be a part of kind of the next chapter, I couldn’t resist,” McCarthy told Adweek, adding that he relishes the opportunity to work with Wilcox again.

An agency in transition

Johannes Leonardo has seen its share of executive departures over the past year, including Neumann; president Bryan Yasko, who left for Accenture Song; head of business development Ben Myers; and head of agency brand engagement Elizabeth Hess.

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.

“I just love new business. The opportunity to really double down and focus there is incredibly exciting for me,” he said. “Agencies are at our best when we’re inspiring our clients. I really look at the role that we play is helping to inspire the industry toward managing some of the change that’s afoot.”