• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, May 9, 2019

New York City is tapping the talents of Madison Avenue with the formation of The Mayor’s Creative Council. It’s designed to help the city more effectively connect New Yorkers to information, resources and initiatives.

Members of the Council will provide pro-bono resources including strategic consultation, creative development, and production to bring selected initiatives from across City government to life.

Andrew Essex, former CEO of Droga5 and the Tribeca Film Festival, and CEO and Co-Founder of Plan A, will chair the Council. 

“The way we communicate with New Yorkers needs to be as vibrant and diverse as the people we serve,” stated NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio. “With the help of the Creative Council, we will be able reach New Yorkers more effectively, ensuring they know about the City’s most important programs and initiatives.”

I could share with you some additional lofty quotes from various city functionaries about what a bold and innovative step this is, but they‘re really kind of meaningless without a track record of accomplishment, aren’t they?

Let’s see what the big industry brains on this committee come up with before we start applauding loudly.

In addition to Essex, here’s the list of committee members:  

• Michael Bierut, Partner,  Pentagram
• Tenicka Boyd, Senior Advisor and Director, Color of Change
• Wendy Clark, Global CEO, DDB
• Errol Cockfield, Vice President of Communications, MSNBC
• Susan Credle, Global Chief Creative Officer, FCB
• Dan Gonda, Droga5
• Gerry Graf, Chief Creative Officer, Barton F. Graf
• Rei Inamoto, CEO, Inamoto & Co
• Michael Koziol, CEO, Huge
• Michael Lebowitz, CEO, Big Spaceship
• Erin McPherson, Chief Content Officer, Verizon
• Susie Nam, COO, Droga5
• Brett Pulley, Executive Vice President, Weber Shandwick
• David Sable, CEO, Y&R
• Alain Sylvain, CEO, Sylvain Labs
• Kwame  Taylor-Hayford, Co-Founder, Saturday Morning
• Natalie Troubh, Managing Director, Badger & Winters