LONDON, UK — McCann Worldgroup today announced two senior leadership moves at Craft, the network’s global production agency. Simon Sikorski, named Global COO in January 2021, has been elevated to the role of Global CEO. Ben Clark joins the company as Chief Production Officer, McCann & Craft, EMEA.
Sikorski is a 15-year veteran of McCann Worldgroup’s leadership team. Previous to his role as COO for Craft, he served as CEO for McCann Worldgroup Canada. He moved back to his native Canada in 2019 as part of organizational changes made as McCann elevated the country to global Strategic Market status. Sikorski previously served as Chief Client Officer at Craft for seven years, and as a Global Business Leader at McCann, having started as a Managing Partner of McCann EMEA, based in London.
Clark joins McCann Worldgroup’s European and UK operations to spearhead regional production for McCann and Craft and further drive creative excellence across the region. Clark joins from Deloitte Digital, where he was a director and founding partner of Acne London, a global creative consultancy, acquired by Deloitte Digital in 2017.
The moves represent an ongoing investment and strategic focus on strengthening McCann Worldgroup’s production capabilities, on the back of significant growth over the past 3+ years. Clark 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.
Chris Macdonald, Chairman & CEO of McCann, 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. I am excited to see how he will continue to build Craft to support our agencies and our clients.”
“Ben brings with him a passion for creativity in production that is at the core of what we believe at Craft. I’m excited to bring his experience developing authentic and engaging content to our clients as they look for innovative ways to connect with their audiences,” said Sikorski.
“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,” said Mark Lund, President, Europe & UK, McCann Worldgroup.
“McCann Worldgroup is consistently recognised as one of the most creative and effective marketing companies in the world. This is a fantastic opportunity to partner with the incredible creative talent at McCann, and its impressive roster of clients, to bring new creative ideas to life, but also to deliver on the Craft promise – crafting content that works, beautifully, intelligently, efficiently and responsibly across all platforms. I am thrilled to be joining such an exceptionally talented community,” said Clark.
