WPP has appointed Rob Reilly as its global chief creative officer. Reilly–who is currently global creative chairman of McCann Worldgroup–will join WPP in May, reporting to CEO Mark Read.
Known for helping to create some of the most iconic ideas for the most impactful global brands, Reilly has led McCann Worldgroup’s creative resurgence–overseeing highly-awarded work that has shaped culture in the wider world, including the “Fearless Girl” statue on Wall Street for State Street Global Advisors. McCann was also named Network of the Year at the 2019 Cannes International Festival of Creativity.
As well as winning numerous awards himself, Reilly has chaired several industry award show juries, including Cannes Lions three times. He is a member of The One Club for Creativity Board and the Facebook Global Client Council. Before moving to McCann in 2014, Reilly was partner and worldwide chief creative officer at Crispin Porter + Bogusky.
In partnership with Read, and the CEOs and chief creative officers of WPP’s agencies, Reilly will champion creativity within and beyond the company, fostering a culture that delivers extraordinary work to WPP’s clients. He is also tasked with attracting and nurturing the best creative talent, driving inclusion and diversity in creative work and teams, and working with technology partners to fuel the creativity needed for their platforms.
Reilly said, “Mark’s ambition is to make WPP the most creative company on the planet. For a creative person, that was impossible to resist. He is leading a complete reinvention of WPP and is committed to putting creativity at the center of everything the company does. I look forward to joining the talented team of people at WPP and helping its fantastic agencies continue to build on their success.”
Read stated, “Rob is one of the world’s most celebrated creative leaders. He has been a transformative creative force wherever he has applied his considerable talent, and I know he will have the same impact at WPP. I am delighted that Rob is joining us as we look to make WPP synonymous with the world’s most creative, most effective and most forward-looking work – and at a time when this has never been more important to our clients.”
James Earl Jones, Lauded Actor and Voice of Darth Vader, Dies At 93
James Earl Jones, who overcame racial prejudice and a severe stutter to become a celebrated icon of stage and screen — eventually lending his deep, commanding voice to CNN, "The Lion King" and Darth Vader — has died. He was 93.
His agent, Barry McPherson, confirmed Jones died Monday morning at home in New York's Hudson Valley region. The cause was not immediately clear.
The pioneering Jones, who was one of the first African American actors in a continuing role on a daytime drama and worked deep into his 80s, won two Emmys, a Golden Globe, two Tony Awards, a Grammy, the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honors and was given an honorary Oscar and a special Tony for lifetime achievement. In 2022, a Broadway theater was renamed in his honor.
He cut an elegant figure late in life, with a wry sense of humor and a ferocious work habit. In 2015, he arrived at rehearsals for a Broadway run of "The Gin Game" having already memorized the play and with notebooks filled with comments from the creative team. He said he was always in service of the work.
"The need to storytell has always been with us," he told The Associated Press then. "I think it first happened around campfires when the man came home and told his family he got the bear, the bear didn't get him."
Jones created such memorable film roles as the reclusive writer coaxed back into the spotlight in "Field of Dreams," the boxer Jack Johnson in the stage and screen hit "The Great White Hope," the writer Alex Haley in "Roots: The Next Generation" and a South African minister in "Cry, the Beloved Country."
He was also a sought-after voice actor, expressing the villainy of Darth Vader ("No, I am your father," commonly misremembered as "Luke, I am your father"), as... Read More