• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, March 4, 2014

Interpublic Group’s Mullen has hired car marketing veteran Cameron McNaughton to run the agency’s Los Angeles office as managing director. He’ll oversee the Acura client team that is based there.

The Los Angeles managing director position is new. The agency won the Acura account last March and soon after opened its LA office. The Acura account has been overseen by agency CEO Alex Leikikh and CCO Mark Wenneker.

Before joining Mullen, McNaughton was president of Hudson Rouge, the New York-based agency that WPP created in late 2011 to reinvigorate Ford’s Lincoln division. He left in mid-2013 and his duties were absorbed by Mark LaNeve, Global COO for Team Detroit, the WPP Ford-focused agency.

Prior to Hudson Rouge McNaughton was an automotive consultant to both agencies and brands, including GMAC, Hyundai, Audi and Volvo. Earlier he led McKinney & Silver’s Audi account.

At MullenLA, McNaughton will lead the 100-person strategic and creative team dedicated to the Acura brand. Over the last nine months, the El Segundo-based office has launched the 2014 Acura MDX and created and recently kicked off a national campaign for a series of new Acura performance luxury sedans.