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^{Pictured L to R: Jill Smith, Jo Holliday}

Global creative agency Iris today announced the appointment of Jill Smith as Global CMO and Jo Holliday as Global Marketing Director.  The newly created roles are part of the network’s global re-alignment, bringing the local and regional offices under a centrally managed team.  

Smith and Holliday will return to the Iris network to take on their new global remits this month, having been seconded to launch the Cheil Connec+ proposition for parent company Cheil Worldwide in April 2022.  

Cheil Connec+ acts as a single point of entry to Cheil’s global network of agencies that includes Cheil, Barbarian, BMB, Iris, and McKinney, enabling clients to bring together specialists from across six Cheil network agencies, spanning 54 offices and more than 6,500 experts worldwide. 

They successfully launched the proposition, helping the network to pick up new business wins and drive organic growth for the likes of Beiersdorf, Grolsch, Scholl, Ripple and Alcon.  

The move coincides with the next phase of Iris’ growth, having recently announced it was strengthening the agency’s social capabilities with the launch of a new cultural content proposition focused on plugging the gap between social specialists and traditional agency models. Entitled ‘Iris Inc.’ (which stands for Igniting New Creators), the initiative will focus on helping clients to tap into the growing creator economy through both in-house and global creative talent. 

Iris has made a series of significant new hires across the Global network in recent months, including former FCB West SVP Mike Giger as Managing Director for San Francisco; former Meta Strategy chief Rebecca Nadilo as Managing Director for Singapore; and former Denstu Regional Head Dibyendu (Joy) Mishra as managing Director for Delhi. 

“Jill and Jo moved the dial for the Cheil network through the Connec+ idea, and it’s now great to have them back, fully focussed on growing Iris as a global micro network,” said Ian Millner, Chairman. “Being able to leverage talent and ideas across our full network—east to west and north to south—is a vital part of our competitive advantage, helping us stand out on a global scale while leveraging our capabilities in data, CRM, performance, brand and social.”

“Clients are struggling to adapt to a world where they not only have less control, but there are more options as to how they can spend their money effectively. We can see a world where most are earned- and owned- media led when it comes to their go to market thinking, and we look forward to continuing to support them on that journey. The participation era is here, and Jill and Jo’s new roles will help us take this to a truly global stage.” 

About Iris:  

With over 1000 people worldwide and 14 offices, Iris is a global creative agency. We use the power of participation to drive brand effectiveness and fuel business growth. We live in a world where brands no longer influence people. People do. And businesses must adapt at the speed of culture. Over the last 20 years, we have helped build Participation Brands that explode into cultural moments and embed themselves into people’s daily lives, including Samsung, adidas, Bentley, Pizza Hut, Jack Daniels, Samsonite and Unilever, among others.