Mother hires Spotify exec for New York chief creative role

Mother has hired Spotify executive Oriel Davis-Lyons as chief creative officer of its New York office.

Davis-Lyons replaces Corinna Falusi, who departed the agency in June. He has been at Spotify since 2020, most recently serving as head of creative for podcasts. Prior to that, he held creative roles at Droga5, R/GA in the U.S. and Colenso BBDO and Special Group in New Zealand.

He will join the Mother New York leadership team in January and will work in the agency's Brooklyn-based office alongside Teri Brady, who has been promoted to managing director from her previous role heading up client services. Davis-Lyons will report to Chief Creative Officer of Mother U.S. Joe Staples while Brady reports to President and Partner Teri Miller, who joined in May from 72andSunny.

Miller described Davis-Lyons as "an entrepreneur who harnesses creativity to start businesses...a true believer in the next generation of talent, and a builder of teams we believe will take the creative mantle in the United States in the years to come."

While at Spotify, Davis-Lyon worked across a variety of projects, including the annual Wrapped campaign. At Droga5, his work included a spot during the 2016 election called "Role Models" for Hillary Clinton’s campaign, as well as continuing the long-running "Seize the Awkward" platform in partnership with the Ad Council. Additionally, he founded a work-from-home wear brand, Corpleisure, in 2021.

Davis-Lyons is also the creator of One School US, the first online portfolio school for Black creatives. Founded in partnership with The One Club in 2020, students are taught by the industry’s top Black creatives. To date the school has graduated more than 120 students who are now working at agencies and brands. 

Davis-Lyons told Ad Age he was returning to the agency side because, "despite everything that's happening right now, it's a really exciting time to be a creative."

"Things feel a little bit unpredictable right now and if you're OK with that there's a big opportunity," he said. "For me it was a case of if I could do that for many brands it was better than doing it for just one."

"To me, Mother has always felt less like an ad agency and more like a place where creativity is the core product and great advertising is just one of the ways it shows up in the world," Davis-Lyons said.

Davis-Lyons said he believes his podcast expertise could provide some opportunities for Mother in that space. "It's another connection point between the brand and the audience," he said. "At its core, it's about an idea; the best podcasts are an idea well told."

Staples added that he would work "closely" with Davis-Lyons, although the two offices have distinct clients and teams. "There aren't many people with Oriel's skills that span that deep traditional strategic approach to brand building plus diversity of output, plus having worked at one of the world's great tech companies."

Davis-Lyons' hire is the latest in a series of high-profile creative appointments at Mother. The London office hired Droga5's Felix Richter in February, and last month appointed Richter's former creative partner Alexander Nowak as chief creative officer for its new office in Berlin.