Jackie Stevenson becomes IPG EMEA chief growth officer

Jackie Stevenson, founding partner and global chief executive of The Brooklyn Brothers, has been named chief growth officer at Interpublic Group EMEA as the holding company plans to expand its presence in the region.

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She takes on the role immediately and reports to Simon Bond, global chief growth officer at IPG.

Stevenson's remit will include growing the business by further integrating the skillsets across IPG such as creativity and communications with media, data and technology.

She will continue to be based in London and travel across IPG's European offices to work with agency leaders to push "sustainable, collaborative growth", the company said.

Stevenson told Campaign that she would be making sure that the IPG agencies in Europe are "joined up and powered up by all of the cross-group offerings that we've got in data, technology, production, talent and media" because that is where the business sees an opportunity to help client growth.

She explained that Europe and the UK makes up the second biggest market for IPG after the US and it is an important area for its clients such as Nestle, L'Oreal and Unilever. 

IPG reported revenues of $1.6bn across continental Europe and the UK in 2021. The company said that it grew 10% in the UK and 13.5% in Europe last year. It has grown 16.4% in Europe since 2019. 

Stevenson's promotion is chief executive Philippe Krakowsky's first executive appointment at the holding company level for EMEA. Krakowsky took over from Michael Roth in January 2021.

Krakowsky said: "IPG has a winning collaborative culture that drives client success in a complex and evolving market. Jackie has a background that spans direct, digital, creative and specialised communications, with deep experience creating business impact for marketers. She's the ideal person to help us deliver open architecture solutions, where our agencies come together to help brands succeed in a digital world.

"The EMEA region is a key strategic market for our clients, and we are looking forward to expanding our presence in the region as we continue to grow alongside leading global and local marketers."

Stevenson co-founded The Brooklyn Brothers in 2008. The agency was acquired by The Golin Group (an IPG agency) in 2016 and has offices in London, New York and Brazil. Stevenson will also work as global chair of The Brooklyn Brothers until the end of the year. In London, The Brooklyn Brothers will continue to be run by Abi Findlay.

Stevenson said: "We found a brilliant home for our agency in IPG and couldn't want for a more collaborative and future-facing culture that believes in the power of building great brands.

"Combine that unique talent and creativity with the precision accountability and scale of IPG's data and technology, media, production and entertainment capabilities and I can't think of a better place to be to help the world's best brands achieve long-term, sustainable growth. I'm delighted to take on this role at a key time for our clients, our people and agencies across EMEA."

Before The Brooklyn Brothers, Stevenson worked in leadership roles at agencies in direct, digital, advertising and earned media. Her career has included stints at Ogilvy & Mather Direct, Collett Dickenson Pearce and Craik Jones.

She was president of WACL in 2021 and launched the #FlexibleFirst movement, which called for "mass adoption" of flexible working everywhere. This included producing practical toolkits, seminars and how-to guides. Stevenson has also helped WACL lobby the UK government to reinstate gender pay gap reporting.

At The Brooklyn Brothers Stevenson worked with partner George Bryant to launch the Brooklyn Night School, which aims to tackle the lack of diversity in London's creative industries.