MSQ Partners agency The Gate has appointed Wunderman Thompson executive creative director Lucas Peon to spearhead its creative team, succeeding Beri Cheetham who is moving to the US for a new role within the group.
Peon will join The Gate in December and form part of the management team, alongside chief executive Jamie Elliott and chief strategy officer Kit Altin.
He started his career directing ads in his native Argentina before switching agency side in the late Nineties. In 2001, Peon became creative director at True Digital in Miami and was eventually appointed chief creative officer of WPP’s global digital agency Possible, first in the US and then in London. White there, he worked for clients including Peroni, Danone and Procter & Gamble.
In 2016, Peon was appointed digital ECD at JWT London and was promoted to ECD within a year and has been responsible for campaigns including “We are not an island” for HSBC and “Make the future” for Shell. He retained the role when the agency was merged form Wunderman Thompson last year, and even when Steve Aldridge was brought in over him as chief creative officer. Interestingly, his LinkedIn profile still states that he works for JWT London.
At The Gate, Peon has been briefed to further boost the agency’s creative output, helping it to blend creative and media thinking.
CEO Jamie Elliott said: “Kit and I are thrilled that Lucas is going to lead the next phase of our transformation journey. He is a world-class, progressive creative leader who understands the possibilities in the modern landscape more than most. He is the perfect partner to take our creative and media proposition to the next level.”
Peon added: “I’ve been impressed with the clarity of vision from Kit and Jamie, their appetite for breakthrough ideas and the ambition of the agency. The opportunity to concentrate on delivering brave, meaningful, talked-about work with a winning team that is genuinely focused on doing things differently, was hard to resist.”
Related stories
MSQ hails multi-disciplinary approach as profits soar
Former MEC boss Courtier takes up MSQ chairman role
MSQ plots expansion on back of new private equity deal
Aldridge back to roots in Wunderman Thompson line-up
WPP confirms mega merger of Wunderman and JWT
