Wunderman Thompson Appoints Neil Dawson as Global Chief Strategy Officer

Wunderman Thompson, a WPP company announced today that it has appointed Neil Dawson, Global Chief Strategy Officer. Neil will report to Global CEO, Mel Edwards and will be based in London. As Global Chief Strategy Officer, Neil will be the driving force for the strategic leadership of the network going forward.

Prior to this role, Neil led the strategy group for Publicis Sapient as Chief Strategy Officer International where he led large scale digital transformation projects across multiple industries. His team was responsible for shaping the digital products and services, new business model innovation and the digital experience ecosystem required to create business and consumer value. During his tenure, Publicis Sapient was named a Digital Consulting Leader by IDC and a Digital Business Transformation Acceleration Leader by Forrester. Prior to Publicis Sapient, Neil held several strategy leadership roles at leading creative agencies, such as Havas London, as well as building and leading one of London’s biggest and most successful planning departments at TBWA London before being promoted to Chairman.

Neil has been a judge and jury member for a number of awards including the IPA Effectiveness Awards, where he served as Convenor for 2008, WARC Social Media Effectiveness and most recently, the inaugural Cannes Strategy Lions in 2019. As part of Neil’s appointment, Guy Murphy, the current J. Walter Thompson Global CSO will be taking on a new role as Chief Strategy Officer, Global Clients. 

Mel Edwards, Global CEO said: “We are thrilled Neil is joining the team at Wunderman Thompson.  He has a blended background of digital transformation combined with brand strategy which is the perfect fit for our business and more importantly, what our clients are asking of us. Neil’s passion for consistently connecting creativity to commercial effectiveness makes him the right person for this role.”

Neil Dawson said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to join a world-class agency which is bringing creativity, data and technology together to inspire growth for brands. Wunderman Thompson has a strong leadership team with a clear mission, supported by a compelling set of capabilities spanning consulting, communications, customer experience, commerce, technology and data. In these VUCA times clients need partners to help them navigate the path to growth by reinventing their consumer engagement models, Wunderman Thompson is well-placed to deliver this.”

Source: Wunderman Thompson

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