The title of chairman, like the title of czar, carries a certain antique weight — a suggestion of authority that may or may not correspond to the actual levers of power. At McCann, the Interpublic Group agency now part of the Omnicom empire, the title is being dusted off and handed to Andrés Ordóñez, who will add global chairman to his existing role as global chief creative officer.
The combined position, which McCann described as new for the agency, will have Mr. Ordóñez taking on "broader leadership responsibilities across the global network with a focus on creatively led client growth," the agency said. He will continue to oversee creative work while also, presumably, spending more time in rooms where budgets are discussed.
Mr. Ordóñez will report to Andrew Robertson, the global chief executive of Omnicom Advertising, which suggests something about where McCann now sits in the organizational chart following Omnicom's acquisition of Interpublic. (One does not typically report to someone at a sister agency unless the family tree has been recently replanted.)
The promotion comes roughly a year after Mr. Ordóñez joined McCann from FCB, another Interpublic agency — a move that preceded the Omnicom deal and may have seemed, at the time, like a lateral step within the same holding company. At FCB, he was credited with winning business from some 40 brands, including Danone, Terminix and the United States Postal Service, which is to say a range spanning yogurt, pest control and mail.
Mr. Robertson, in a statement, praised Mr. Ordóñez's "restless determination" and invoked McCann's century-old slogan, "Truth well told," calling it "a way of life for him."
Mr. Ordóñez, for his part, spoke of creativity as a driver of demand and growth, which is what one says when one is also chairman.
Original story published in campaignlive.com: "McCann global CCO Andrés Ordóñez made global chairman | Campaign US"