“A Great Opportunity with an Amazing Innovation Mandate”: Ian Mackenzie Discusses His Move to McCann
As the longest standing creative agency in Canada, it felt like much of the country was holding its breath to see who would take on the unfilled role of chief creative officer at McCann Worldgroup Canada after Josh Stein joined LG2 late last year. After all, with offices across the country, a vast network of resources to draw upon, and a recent hot streak in terms of business and client wins, the demands of the position would be great, and the expectations and hopes even bigger.
That question was answered early in March when Ian Mackenzie, former CCO of Performance Art, IPG’s specialist creative data agency, was announced in the role, also taking on the title of McCann’s global AI creative lead to boot. Marking the consolidation of the Toronto, Montreal and Calgary offices, as well as all the network’s creative operations including MRM and Craft under a single leader, this move signalled a definitive push from the agency to open a new and exciting chapter, albeit one filled with the continuation of success at the forefront.
While this move also saw the merging of Performance Art into McCann, this has only served to bolster overall capabilities and offerings - something especially important considering Ian’s need to split focus. Aiming to combine data, tech, and AI-powered innovation with disciplined creative brand-building and production capabilities, it’s a big task, but one with clear potential that could change McCann as it’s known in Canada today.
To learn more, including what inspired the move, how the early days have been, and why this is such an exciting opportunity to him, LBB’s Josh Neufeldt sat down with Ian for a chat.
LBB> Obviously, the big news is that you’ve just joined McCann Canada, taking on not only the role of CCO, but also global AI creative lead. Congratulations! What inspired this decision, and what does it mean to you?
Ian> Thank you! The inspiration is, as always, to do the best work possible with the most inspiring and talented people, partners and clients I can find. There’s an abundance of both across McCann Worldgroup Canada, and that’s beyond exciting.
The more complicated answer involves the opportunity to pull an innovation specialism to the centre of an epic, storied agency network that’s already on a tear. It’s a great opportunity with an amazing innovation mandate. Across the team, we have the vision to imagine it, and the operational tools to pull it off. I’m grateful for the opportunity and the team’s trust.
LBB> And what are you hoping to accomplish?
Ian> Math! I want to make 80% of the work 20% better, and 20% of the work 80% better. Imagine the upside on that given the high bar that’s already been set here. But with the talent on deck, I’m optimistic we can hit it.
On a more visionary level, I want to help take the thing that McCann has always been great at - which is building highly successful and enduring brands - and supercharge it with a modern approach to data, tech and AI creativity. When we get it right, clients will get more of what they already love about McCann, while unlocking the value of the investments they’re making in their data and technology infrastructure and partnerships.
For talent, I want people to come here because they know they’ll do progressive, industry-leading work that will drive growth, future-proof their careers and get them on stage at award shows.
LBB> As part of this, Performance Art has been integrated into McCann. What has this process been like? And what does this mean going forward?
Ian> In its very short time, Performance Art achieved what many agencies only dream of, including big wins on client business, outsized creative performance (Grand Prix at One Show, for example!), all powered by an amazing group of people aligned to a vision of what marketing could look like when it’s built around the customer. I hope everyone who was on that ride takes great pride in the achievement.
That said, Performance Art was always connected to the McCann Worldgroup network, so the journey to bring us together at some point became natural and evolutionary. Many of the amazing people who made Performance Art what it was are now part of the McCann and MRM roster of talent. There have been some growing pains as we’ve come together, but overall, there’s a tremendous sense of excitement and opportunity ahead. Going forward, we’re pointing our talent and energy at our power brands: McCann, MRM and our production agency, Craft.
LBB> With that in mind, has your way of working had to change to meet the demands of the new role? And as a whole, what has adapting to taking on this position been like?
Ian> For the most part, I’m still in the early stages of getting sightlines on the work, clients and people. But in these early days, I’m impressed by the talent, and the work I’m seeing. I’ve always been a player-coach creative leader. The team here is counting on me to pull up, support the strong creative leadership bench we already have in place, wrap my arms around a vast body of work, and help set bars and shape trajectories, versus grinding away on the day-to-day work itself. There are already smart people doing that.
LBB> On the creative side of things, you noted McCann is in a place of great momentum at the moment. So, how are you facilitating the continuation of this?
Ian> McCann’s momentum was impressive to me when I was looking at it from the outside, albeit right next door. It’s even more impressive now that I’ve gained direct sightlines to the clients and work that’s in progress. I’m excited about all our clients, across Calgary, Toronto and Montreal. Each is on their own journey and expecting world-class work from our teams. That’s a great starting point.
LBB> Building on this, where do you think McCann’s place is within the Canadian industry at the moment? With all the indie talk, are you pushing to bring the strength of the network back to the fore?
Ian> The indies do an incredible job of creative advertising. And we have to make sure we’re competitive and beyond on that front. But as Canadian marketers get more demanding about the integration of their marketing activities across audience, media, owned, influencer, CRM, creative, content, commerce and production, there’s going to be increased demand for agencies that can deliver powerful, seamless, integrated end-to-end solutions, enabled by enterprise-grade data and technology architecture. How many indies can offer their clients the benefits of a global partnership with Adobe GenStudio, for example? Or can tap a global network of specialists to rally around a client’s most complex business problems? At their best, agency networks give their clients the value of scale. Our job is to make sure we’re exceeding expectations creatively, while unlocking the value of that scale for our clients.
As for McCann’s place… McCann is the longest standing creative agency in Canada for a reason. We have continually evolved to meet the changing needs of marketers and the expectations of Canadian audiences. This renewed focus on innovation is actually the continuation of a winning McCann tradition.
LBB> You’re also responsible now for work coming out of Toronto, Montreal and Calgary. How do you manage to juggle each office? And, does your creative approach change from city to city, based on the market each agency is working within?
Ian> I’ve often thought the job of a leader is to choose which mountain to climb, and then to work with the teams to figure out the best route to the top. It includes vision and planning. But it also includes thousands of technical decisions that unfold mid-climb. Where do you put your next anchor points? Where do you rest? What happens when the weather changes? When do you push for the summit?
Right now, the leadership team (which is also mid-climb on a bunch of projects), is picking its new mountains. And while those may look different depending on which office you’re in, the goal is always the same: to find an interesting peak, then successfully reach its summit. Also, Calgary has the best mountains and Montreal is a mountain. So…
LBB> On the AI side of things, tell us about your interest! Why is this such a passion point for you?
Ian> The topic of AI is so massive, I don’t want to overstate my understanding or experience. We’re all learning! But, most of the best creative work I’ve been a part of over the past 10 years or so has contained elements that, it turns out, contribute to a base competency and excitement for the use of AI in the creative process.
As for where the passion comes from, I think it stems from a naturally positive disposition toward technology. Take the idea of automation for example. Without overthinking it, do you find the idea of automating creative work exciting or threatening? I don’t know for sure, but I believe many reasonable folks’ first reaction to that question starts with a tiny little objection: ‘No. Creativity is fundamentally human. I’m fine with embracing these tools because it’s exciting and inevitable. But I kinda wish it wasn’t happening. And a machine will never have a truly great or human idea’. Something like that.
I don’t have that voice or that persistent little objection. I see technology as a blank canvas and blue ocean, where I can help clients find uncontested market space. I’m not a blind-faith techno-optimist, but as a creative practitioner, I believe running toward change is the same thing as running toward the high ground, strategically speaking.
LBB> And how will you be helping the agency combine data, tech, and AI-powered innovation with disciplined creative brand-building and production capabilities, both on a national and global level?
Ian> The first part is purely tactical, and that’s making sure the team has access to all the great thinking, tools, tips, training, platforms and partnership that are available to them through the network and beyond.
The second part is just being excited by it and insisting that we’re actively making stuff with it, shipping work with it, and that we integrate all this into the solutions we’re bringing to our clients – because it makes the work more effective and more creative.
LBB> With that in mind, can you give us some insight into what McCann Worldgroup is aiming for within the realm of tech and AI? How will you be moving the network into the future?
Ian> Globally, we’re in the exciting early-mid-game. At the network level, we’re architecting enterprise-level solutions, such as the Adobe GenStudio partnership recently announced by IPG which unlocks incredible generative AI capabilities for clients across the network. And it goes well beyond. We’re having conversations with every major platform and across every client.
On the other hand, the opportunity is to get every office in the network practicing in the space, because at this nascent stage in the technology, advantage will often go to early movers. And once the footing is gained, it’s easier to keep climbing. We’re not waiting until it’s all figured out. That would be too late. We’re proceeding with cautious optimism and we’re practicing what we’re learning at scale.
LBB> Finally, moving back to you, is there anything you’d like your new peers to know about you, or fun stuff you’d like to share?
Ian> Synthesisers! Lifetime hobby musician here who, last year, discovered synthesis. Check this out: you can get a machine that has these things called oscillators, that produce audio waveforms shaped like sines and saws, which you can then cut into with filters, shape with volume envelopes, then modify with effects such as reverb, delay and other low-frequency oscillators to make musical sounds… and then express those sounds through a piano keyboard! Where do I sign?
