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Throughout Kristen Cavallo‘s 30-year career, she’s never backed down from an opportunity to defend creativity.
Cavallo rose to the top of the industry by leading the rebuilding of The Martin Agency into a powerhouse. But she became arguably one of the industry’s biggest provocateurs by defending agencies’ work following comments about Coinbase’s Super Bowl ad in 2022, as well as championing the value of creativity after that Snoop Dogg Solo Stove campaign earlier this year.
“I don’t know that I’ve said anything special or unique, but when I do say something, oftentimes I hear ‘you said exactly what we were thinking,’” Cavallo told ADWEEK during an hour-long interview on Friday. “The difference [is] maybe I was stupid enough or idealistic enough to say it. I hope that someone else picks up that flag.”
Cavallo is retiring from advertising, having ascended from strategic planner—at what was then Mullen Advertising—to come full circle at MullenLowe Group as global CEO. But once a strategist, always a strategist: Cavallo is leaving the industry to pursue a new kind of fulfillment.
After completing a grueling five-week 500-mile el Camino de Santiago trial in Spain, Cavallo will put her three decades of strategy experience influencing human behavior toward social and political activism. Next year, she’s working on the Virginia governorship campaign, one of 2025’s most important races in the U.S. for being “the last state in the South to protect women’s rights,” she said.
Cavallo sends a resolute message to the industry about the value of creativity through her pick of successors. Former chief creative Danny Robinson will lead The Martin Agency as CEO, while Frank Cartagena, the former CCO of The Community, will lead MullenLowe in the U.S. Alex Leikikh will return as global MullenLowe CEO.
