This week’s agency news, executive moves, and account changes

Each week, Marketing Brew recaps the agency world’s biggest leadership changes, account wins and losses, reviews, acquisitions, and more.

Hires and departures

Wunderman Thompson appointed Audrey Kuah CEO of Asia Pacific. She previously held a leadership role at OCBC Bank.

John Mescall is leaving McCann Worldgroup. He served as global executive creative director and president of McCann’s global creative council.

Independent agency Highdive elevated Megan Lally to CEO, the first it’s had. Lally, one of the agency’s founders and owners, was previously managing partner.

Account wins, losses, and reviews

Papa John’s is reviewing its creative and media agency accounts. It tapped Havas Media in 2018 for media work, and Camp + King for creative in 2019, per MediaPost.

Lufthansa has selected This January as its creative agency in North America. According to Adweek, “the brand and agency declined to reveal the incumbent agency, or the other agencies it invited to the internally led pitch.”

Courage, a creative agency based in Toronto, was appointed agency of record for various Nestlé Canada brands including San Pellegrino and Kit Kat. The two already had a relationship, as the agency handles the company’s Nescafé portfolio.

New divisions, offices, acquisitions, etc.

David Suarez and Danny Gonzalez, former executive creative directors at Goodby Silverstein & Partners New York, formed advertising agency Bandits & Friends. They will serve as co-chief creative officers, while Courtney Berry, who was previously managing director at Barbarian, will serve as president.

Joan Creative partnered with media agency Crossmedia to create JoanxMedia, a “media buying and planning offering.” “Integration of creative and media has become a lost art in the agency business and we’re excited to partner with Joan...to reinvigorate a traditional business model that has gone missing,” Crossmedia CEO Kamran Asghar told MediaPost.

Interns at Publicis Groupe’s Le Truc have created a “Cringe Check.” According to AgencySpy, it’s a Discord server where creatives can “engage in open dialogue with its resident Gen Z-ers to ask if their creative ideas are cringe or not.”