Simon Sikorski becomes global CEO of Craft and Ben Clark joins as chief production officer for EMEA
McCann Worldgroup has promoted Simon Sikorski to global chief executive of its production arm named Craft, and it has also hired Ben Clark to join as its chief production officer for EMEA.
With 15 years experience on the leadership team at McCann, Sikorski was named global chief operating officer of Craft Worldwide in January 2021. He had previously served as chief executive of McCann Worldgroup Canada for two years.
Reporting to group chairman and CEO Chris Macdonald, Sikorski’s new responsibilities will be to lead the global network of Craft Studios, while integrating its production services across the whole group. He is also tasked with driving innovation within the production offer, including the use of data integration, automation and with introducing new technologies such as virtual production.
Sikorski will work to ensure that clients are being delivered production strategies that meet their business objectives and to deliver content solutions that connect with consumers—including across new marketing channels in social media and the metaverse as it develops.
McCann Worldgroup’s production services are also expected to be integrated across parent IPG’s network of agencies.
In a statement, Macdonald said: “Simon has proven himself to be a world-class leader and has an incredible depth of experience across McCann Worldgroup’s agencies and our geographic regions. He has proven in each role that he is capable of building great teams, driving creative excellence and delivering strong growth for our clients and our business.”
Meanwhile, Clark will join the European and U.K. operations of Worldgroup to lead its regional production. He joins from Deloitte Digital, where he was a director and also the founding partner of creative consultancy Acne London, which was acquired in 2017.
He will work closely with global and regional leadership to develop production strategies across the entire portfolio of clients and champion the development of new production capabilities, taking advantage of innovations in the market.
“Ben brings great expertise in multi-dimensional creative solutions, combined with an acute understanding of clients’ business and strategic challenges and the role production can play in solving these. Critically, Ben will play a key role in bridging the creative and production communities and enabling us to continue to lead in both creativity and production excellence across this region,” added Mark Lund, president, Europe and U.K., McCann Worldgroup.
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