• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, July 8, 2010

Publicis' Digitas on Wednesday named Lincoln Bjorkman to the newly created position of chief creative officer, North America. Presently EVP and executive creative director for Digitas' New York region, Bjorkman will retain his existing responsibilities, and will assume creative leadership across Digitas' six offices in the region. Bjorkman will also maintain creative leadership for American Express -- a key account for Digitas.

Bjorkman on Wednesday was not at liberty to discuss future initiatives at Digitas, saying only that "I look forward to partnering with the creative leaders in each region to push our creative innovation further than ever."

Bjorkman will now be expected to partner directly with Colin Kinsella, president North America, to drive growth across the agency's largest region. Kinsella was named president of Digitas North America in late 2009; since that time the agency has added CA, Aflac, Goodyear and Sears among others as new clients.

Publicis has recently responded to the rise of digital media with some major structural changes.

Most notably, in the wake of its Razorfish acquisition, Publicis late last year named Colin Kinsella -- then chief innovation officer at Razorfish -- CEO of Digitas North America.

The position had been empty since Laura Lang was promoted to her current global position as Digital CEO, which was triggered by former Digitas chief David Kenny taking over the Publicis VivaKi unit, as well as de facto chief digital strategy officer.

Then last month, Kenny decided to leave Publicis. Jack Klues has assumed sole responsibility for VivaKi as CEO, while Jean-Michel Etienne was expected to take Kenny's place on the management board.

Under Bjorkman's leadership, the New York Region has recently taken such creative awards as a People's Choice Webby, BtoB Magazine's Social Media Marketing Award, and Gold in the Business-to-Business category at the IAB MIXX Awards.

Prior to Digitas, Bjorkman worked at Y&R, serving first as director of concepts for the Wunderman New York office, and then later as creative director and principal of Y&R's Brand Buzz.