Publicis Groupe has appointed Sergio Lopez to the newly created position of EVP, global head of production, reporting to global CEO Arthur Sadoun, and global CSO and Le Truc co-founder, Carla Serrano. (Formed earlier this year, Le Truc converges hundreds of creatives, producers and creative strategists from Publicis Groupe NY agencies, serving as a collaborative space designed to be a fluid talent and creative model tapping into the best minds and offerings.)
Lopez will partner closely with Le Truc’s co-founders–Serrano and Neil Heymann–to build a center of excellence for creative production in the U.S., reiterating Le Truc’s commitment to providing key clients with rich, connected and diverse solutions. He will also work with the Groupe’s production leaders within the global services team to further drive the world-class connected suite of tools, capabilities and technology-enabled platforms for clients. Lopez will play a key part in defining and driving the overall vision and strategy of production at Publicis Groupe, nurturing its talent and skillsets, to bring the most progressive solutions to clients.
Lopez joins from McCann Worldgroup where he was chief production officer and managing director of Craft Worldwide. Over his six-year tenure at McCann, Lopez developed and led their production arm Craft Europe. Within the first five years he developed a new production model that grew Craft from a team of 12 to over 500 and won over 425 awards at the major creative festivals, including Cannes Lions, D&AD and The One Show.
Lopez spent his career working at a number of leading creative agencies across the globe including New York, Chicago, London, Paris, Dusseldorf, Shanghai, Toronto, Moscow, Milan, Amsterdam, Dubai, Barcelona and Madrid.
Before McCann, Lopez joined Anomaly in 2012 as global head of integrated production where he was responsible for leading integrated production for brands including Ab InBev, Diageo, Google, P&G and Mondelēz.
Prior to Anomaly he worked at JWT New York as head of integrated production, leading a team of over 120 people executing international campaigns for brands including Nestlé, Microsoft and Unilever.
The new appointment sees Lopez return to Publicis Groupe, where he spent over eight years at Leo Burnett in Madrid and Chicago. He will start the new role in January 2022.
Sadoun commented: “As we enter the post-pandemic world, it’s vital we recalibrate all our capabilities for new business and consumer realities. That includes production. Sergio is a rare breed of production leaders, one who has unique experience in creating successful long-term models that facilitate the best of data and technology while unleashing the power of human craft.”
Lopez added, “It has never been more important to help brands connect with their consumers creatively, effectively and efficiently. I am very proud to rejoin Publicis Groupe to work closely with our clients, agencies and production partners to redefine the future model of global production. Publicis is exceptionally well positioned to lead this post-COVID model, bringing together creativity, technology and scale.”
The move follows a number of significant appointments for Publicis Groupe, including Natalie Lam as CCO of Publicis Groupe APAC + MEA, Heymann and Bastien Bauman as founding partners of Le Truc, and the elevation of Chaka Sobhani to global CCO of Leo Burnett.
