McCann New York has appointed Shobha Sairam as chief strategy officer as it seeks to strengthen its strategic capabilities following its acquisition by Omnicom in November.
A seasoned strategy executive, Sairam was most recently executive vice president and chief strategy officer at 22squared. She has held CSO positions at The&Partnership and The Community, as well as strategy leadership roles at Deutsch, Mother, and Leo Burnett.
At McCann, Sairam aims to modernize the strategy function with AI at the core and create stronger connectivity between brand and social work. “The future of strategy is hybrid, where human imagination, cultural inspiration, and data intelligence work at the speed of AI,” she said.
As part of that effort, she aims to cultivate hybrid talent that are comfortable working across brand and data science, she added.
“We’re focused on building a future-ready strategy practice that reflects the scale and ambition of our clients and our company,” she said.
According to McCann New York CEO Amber Guild, strengthening the agency’s strategic discipline will help it compete in a more consolidated and competitive market. “We believe the best work is both strategically brilliant and creatively brilliant,” she said.
A new era at McCann
Sairam joins McCann as it settles into its new leadership team under Omnicom.
After the holdco closed its $13.5 billion acquisition of former parent IPG, McCann emerged as one of its three surviving global creative networks, alongside BBDO and TBWA. The transition included thousands of global job cuts and multiple executive shifts.
Amid the shuffle, FCB global CEO Tyler Turnbull got the top job as CEO of McCann Worldgroup, bringing along his FCB counterpart Andrés Ordóñez as global CCO. Former McCann Worldgroup CEO Daryl Lee took on the role of chairman.
