• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, December 14, 2016

Omnicom Group’s DDB has created the new role of North American chief creative officer and has appointed Ari Weiss to fill it. The appointment is effective Feb. 1, 2107. 

Weiss will be responsible for leading the agency’s North America creative departments. He joins DDB from BBH New York, where he spent six years and led his teams to 24 Cannes Lions, and most recently served as Chief Creative Officer.  

Wendy Clark, DDB’s NA CEO stated: “There were so many qualities we wanted in our North American Chief Creative Officer, and Ari hits the mark on all of them. His work is sensational—driving business impact and consistently winning creative acclaim at the highest levels.” 

Under Weiss’ leadership BBH NY has created award-winning work for clients including AXE, PlayStation, Netflix, Vaseline, Seamless, UNICEF, Sprite and The Weather Channel.  

In 2016, Weiss helped launch the political campaign of the fictional presidential candidate Frank Underwood, the star of the Netflix Original Series "House of Cards." The campaign launched during the highest-rated political debate in American history and quickly became the top trending topic on Twitter.

It was also recognized at the 2016 Cannes Festival with seven Lions, including one of the festival’s most coveted prizes, the Integrated Grand Prix. 

In addition, Weiss penned the line “Greatness Awaits,” winning the PlayStation business and leading the brand to the largest console launch in gaming history. The effort has helped sell over 50 million units to date. 

Clark said DDB is “now completely focused on elevating the quality, impact and profile of our work. It is our very reason for being and nothing could be more important. My confidence could not be higher that Ari's creative, cultural and business impact will be felt immediately at DDB.” 

Prior to BBH, Weiss worked at a number of agencies, including, BBDO, Wieden+Kennedy, Goodby, Silverstein and Partners, and 180LA. He started his career at Cliff Freeman & Partners. Throughout his career, he’s worked on blue chip brands such as Nike, Sony, FedEx, Guinness, Snickers, DirecTV, Fox Sports, ESPN and The National Basketball Association.