Dentsu International appoints Fred Levron as global chief creative officer

Fred Levron

The global chief creative officer hire accelerates Dentsu’s creative ambitions across its agencies and for its clients, who make up 95 of the top 100 advertisers globally. Teaming up with Clark, Levron will build on Dentsu International’s current capabilities and storied Japanese creative roots and will be responsible for the network’s creative product and accelerating creativity across the entirety of dentsu international’s creative, media and CXM agency brands, as it transforms to become the most integrated network in the world.

For over two decades, Levron has been one of the industry’s most progressive creative leaders and thinkers. He was recently recognised as the top chief creative officer globally by The Drum publication global ranking in 2020 and The One Club global ranking for two consecutive years in 2020 and 2021.

Wendy Clark, global CEO of Dentsu International, said: “For 120 years, the Dentsu Group has been a beacon of creative craft and inspiration. Today marks an important moment as Dentsu International appoints Fred as its global chief creative officer. Fred has one of the most lauded portfolios and creative reputations in the business. His appointment accelerates and emphasises the importance of creativity as the hallmark of everything we do. I'm counting down the days until he joins.”

Levron said: “My entire career has been driven by the ambition to transform the agencies and network I was part of and build brands and businesses through the power of modern creativity. Today, I’m so excited to start this new transformation journey as I’m joining Wendy and Dentsu’s 45,000+ employees. We have the opportunity to build a unique creative company that brings creativity, tech, data, media, entertainment and commerce together to become the most attractive place for talents out there and the most relevant partner for the biggest brands.”

This appointment continues Dentsu’s strong momentum in the marketplace including the recent launch of Dentsu Health, its acquisition of commerce and customer experience business, LiveArea and major client wins and expansions including P&G, GSK, LinkedIn, Kroger, Heineken, Galderma and American Express.

Levron is joining Dentsu from FCB where he served as worldwide creative partner. Over the years, he helped lead a creative transformation that saw FCB becoming Cannes Lions 2020/2021 Network of the Year, a first in FCB’s 148-year-long history and Adweek’s 2020 Global Agency of the year. Prior to FCB, Levron was part of the leadership team at CAA Marketing, the four-time Emmy-winner entertainment agency based in Los Angeles. He also held several positions over his 10-year tenure at Ogilvy Paris where he helped transform the agency into a global creative powerhouse.

His celebrated global work from the last two decades includes:

• AB InBev – "Contract for Change" multiple Grand Prix winner at Cannes Lions 2021.
  
• Levi's – "Circles" top 10 most watched commercial on Youtube in 2017
  
• Burger King’s “Whopper Detour” the most awarded campaign in the world Warc 2019
  
• Coke – “The Sharing Can”
  
• Times of India – “Shindoor Kheela, No condition Apply”
  
• Louis Vuitton – “Journeys Campaign”
  
• Huawei – “Storysign”

As one of the most awarded creatives in the industry, Levron has won close to 200 Cannes Lions including 13 Grand Prix and 46 Gold, three Black Pencils at D&AD and more than 2,000 international awards. His work has been seen across pages of the New York Times, Fast Company, Rolling Stone, featured in the MoMA archive, the London Design Museum and the Museum of African American History in Chicago.

Levron joins Dentsu on 1 November.

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About Dentsu International

Part of Dentsu, Dentsu International is made up of six leadership brands: Carat, dentsu X, iProspect, Isobar, dentsumcgarrybowen, Merkle and supported by its specialist brands. Dentsu International helps clients to win, keep and grow their best customers and achieve meaningful progress for their businesses. With best-in-class services and solutions in media, CXM and creative, Dentsu International operates in over 145 markets worldwide with more than 45,000 dedicated specialists. www.dentsu.com