Acclaimed creative agency veteran Ari Weiss died Friday at the age of 46, after a long battle with cancer. The agency he founded a year ago, Quality Experience, confirmed the sad news over the weekend.   

Prior to founding Quality Experience, Weiss was the global chief creative officer at Omnicom’s DDB Worldwide.   

Under his seven years of leadership, DDB was named Global Network of the Year at The Effies, The One Show, D&AD, and The Cannes International Festival of Creativity — a first in DDB Worldwide’s 75-year history. He was also named the most awarded creative in the world at the 2024 Cannes Lions Festival.   

“Ari’s passion was to create value at every touch point for a brand,” the agency said in a statement. “He held himself accountable to a higher standard, always asking – why find your audience when your audience will find you.”  

Earlier in his career Weiss served at Cliff Freeman & Partners, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, BBDO, Wieden + Kennedy, and Bartle Bogle Hegarty.  

Examples of his work can be seen here, here and here.   

Weiss is survived by his wife, Dara, and three children, Layla, Luca and Lev.