Joe Piccolo joins MacLaren, Jack Neary prepares to leave

A week after announcing that former DDB Canada president and COO David Leonard is joining the agency as CEO, MacLaren McCann has added to its senior creative team with the appointment of Joe Piccolo as group creative director, responsible for the agency’s RBC account.

His appointment follows a search process precipitated by the February departure of vice-president, group creative director Chris Seguin. “[Seguin] was magic for us over the years, but ultimately he left to pursue other things,” outgoing MacLaren McCann CEO Doug Turney told Marketing on Thursday.

Piccolo was selected from a shortlist of approximately five candidates. Director of business development Jack Neary, who joined MacLaren on a contract basis last year after a year away from advertising, oversaw the search.

Turney said Piccolo is a good cultural fit with the agency, while his  “deep” experience in financial services, which includes working with clients such as TD and TD Waterhouse, was also a key factor in his hire.

Asked to assess MacLaren’s creative team with Piccolo in place, Turney described it as “very strong.”

Piccolo started his career as an art director with GJP Advertising (now Blammo Worldwide), while his CV also includes stints with Rethink, FCB Global and Cossette. His work has been recognized at Cannes, The One Show and Communication Arts.

“He came across as being a creative leader as much as a creative manager,” said Turney.

Piccolo’s hire comes amid a series of personnel changes for MacLaren. Turney revealed that Neary has asked the agency not to renew his contract, and suggested the industry veteran’s departure from MacLaren could be “coming soon” as he returns to finishing the memoir he started in 2012.

“He ultimately wants to be doing his thing and getting back to finishing his book,” said Turney, who worked alongside Neary at Chiat/Day Toronto in the early 1990s. “He has a lot of personal things going on.

“We were just lucky and happy to have him here to help manage through the redesign.”

Turney, meanwhile, plans to depart MacLaren to pursue a career in academics, something his role with MacLaren – which he jokingly described as a “double full-time job” – has prevented him from doing in earnest. Turney told Marketing he is currently in discussions with “a couple” of undisclosed universities

Asked if this means the end of his more than 40-year agency career, Turney responded: “I think I would rather be promoting the agency world to people now, and that’s why education.”