FCB Chicago has announced the appointment of Matt Blitz as EVP, executive director of agency production.
Blitz will oversee all agency producers and the broadcast business team, working in collaboration with all of FCB’s creative leaders to elevate the creative craft across over 50 brands. He will also be responsible for growing FCB Chicago’s relationship with the major production houses including Arts & Sciences, PRETTYBIRD, Hungry Man, and SMUGGLER.
Blitz joined FCB Chicago back in March and in his new role will report to chief creative officer Pedro Pérez, who was recently appointed following the promotion of Andrés Ordóñez to global CCO.
Partnering closely with FCB Chicago chief technology officer Fernando Espejel, Blitz will drive the Chicago office’s collaboration and connectivity with 456 Studios, FCB’s fully integrated global in-house content creation studio, to create multichannel content to deliver best-in-class brand experiences.
Blitz joins FCB from DDB Chicago where he was head of production, responsible for leading the entire production department with 30+ direct reports including all producers, business affairs teams, and traffic. He took on this role following four years as SVP/executive producer, where he led production efforts for DDB Chicago’s key clients and built teams to execute work at the highest level across the board. Prior to joining DDB, Blitz spent 15 years at Leo Burnett, where he worked on multiple Fortune 500 brands, overseeing day-to-day production efforts, and managing producers across all disciplines to execute work across multiple platforms.
“When we started our search for this role, we went far and wide, and after many months and referrals, all roads led to Matt,” said Kelly Graves, CEO of FCB Chicago. “During the interview process, it quickly became clear that Matt not only executes productions to an incredibly high standard, but also excels as a ‘creative’ producer, leveraging his years of experience while working closely with creative teams and producers to help them accomplish the best work possible to drive growth. This, combined with his stellar reputation as the guy who can get anything done–and the creative portfolio to back it up–fills me with confidence that we’ve found the right person to lead our production efforts and champion our ethos of creativity as an economic multiplier.”
Blitz added, “One of the things I love the most about my job is working with creative teams to produce quality content that is fully integrated and highly efficient. FCB showed me just that. Not only do they inspire a collaborative culture with creativity at the heart, but the deep integration of 456 Studios with the rest of the business allows them to put high performing, innovative, creative work into the world. It’s an exciting time to be in production and demonstrate how to be a great partner to in-house teams and external partners alike, to elevate creative ideas and make the best work for our clients.”
Throughout his career, Blitz and his teams have picked up over 400 creative awards across the board at Cannes Lions, D&AD, The One Show, Clios, London International Awards, and the Art Directors Club, for brands including Mars, Samsung, Esurance, UnitedHealthcare, Miller Lite, and Coors Light. Of this award-winning work, Blitz is particularly proud of the Skittles “Broadway the Rainbow” campaign and Samsung’s “Ostrich,” which is now a DePaul University case study to help teach students about how to benchmark creative.
