VMLY&R has appointed Noel Cottrell as chief creative officer in its Kansas City shop. In his new role, Cottrell will lead the office’s creative department, and report to co-chief creative officer of North America John Godsey. A key focus for Cottrell will be on the continued development of world-class creative work for the Wendy’s account.
Cottrell joins VMLY&R from Fitzco in Atlanta, where he served as CCO for nearly a decade. Cottrell was instrumental in growing the agency through his work on brands like Coca-Cola, Sony, Navy Federal Credit Union, French’s Mustard, Harry’s, and Checkers and Rally’s. Under his leadership, Fitzco’s creative work garnered accolades from the Cannes Lions, One Show, Effies, and more. This made Fitzco the most awarded agency in the Southeast and a major contender on the international stage.
Early in his career, Cottrell co-founded two successful South African advertising agencies–Joe Public and FoxP2. He later moved to the U.S. where he worked as executive creative director at Grey New York on celebrated campaigns such as E*TRADE’s “Talking Babies” and P&G’s Febreze “Breathe Happy” blindfold campaign.
“VMLY&R is an agency that creates powerful cultural connections between brands and consumers. The work coming out of the Kansas City office is some of the best in our industry, from Wendy’s voice on social to the amazing Fortnite activation and ‘Feast of Legends’ game,” said Cottrell.
The hiring of Cottrell builds on the creative momentum for VMLY&R’s Kansas City office, which ranked among the top 10 offices in North America according to the Cannes Lions Festival in 2019. The office has garnered 26 Cannes Lions for Wendy’s alone in the past few years and has received honors from the industry’s leading competitions including the One Show, D&AD, Clio Awards, Effies and more for its award-winning work on a range of blue-chip clients.
Carl Loredo, chief marketing officer of Wendy’s, said, “As we continue to distinguish what make Wendy’s unique, different and special, Noel will be able to bring his past experiences and creative perspective to continue to help us on our journey to make authentic connections with our customers and to create groundbreaking work.”
VMLY&R is a global brand experience agency made up of nearly 7,000 employees worldwide with principal offices in Kansas City, New York, London, São Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney. VMLY&R works with client partners including Colgate-Palmolive, Danone, Dell, Ford, Office Depot, Pfizer and Wendy’s.
