John Mescall is out at McCann Worldgroup

John Mescall, global executive creative director at McCann Worldgroup and president of the agency’s global Creative Leadership Council, is departing the agency, McCann confirmed Thursday.

Mescall had held the global ECD role since 2014, when he arrived in New York after a stellar run at McCann Australia, where he’d been ECD since 2011. His efforts in his native Australia included the celebrated “Dumb Ways to Die” campaign for Metro Trains, which won five Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in 2013.

“John Mescall has made a tremendous impact on McCann Worldgroup during his 10-plus years with our company, helping our creative community elevate its work and contributing significantly to awards and industry recognition over the years. We wish him only the best in his next chapter,” the agency told Ad Age in a statement. 

In his dual roles at McCann, Mescall worked closely with the creative leads across all markets and helped steer the network to consistently strong showings at global award shows, including its first-ever Cannes Lions Network of the Year win in 2019. At Cannes Lions 2023, the network won 55 total Lions across 18 categories for 20 clients, including a Titanium Lion and three Grand Prix—in Design, Creative Business Transformation and Sustainable Development Goals.

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As a writer and a creative director, Mescall has personally won over 60 Cannes Lions and has served as a jury member or jury president at all the major award shows.

Mescall told Ad Age: “It’s the end of an era but excited for what’s to come—whatever that may be.”