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Cheil North America is relatively small compared to its holding company counterparts. It boasts 800 employees across seven agencies, but it’s taking the first step to better align its shops in the pursuit of organic growth with the introduction of Joe Maglio’s dual role.
Maglio, who was already the CEO of McKinney, will also hold the CEO position at Barbarian. He takes over for Steven Moy, who ADWEEK revealed is taking the CEO reins at indie shop L&C.
Under Maglio, McKinney has tripled in size, added a health practice, acquired influencer agency August United and landed signature clients Popeyes and Little Caesars. Like many digital agencies in the current industry landscape, Barbarian hit a “rough patch” as Maglio described it, but is now back in a period of growth with clients like American Express, which tapped the shop as its social AOR. Maglio also takes on a president role at Cheil North America, while McKinney managing director Bill Mattis will lead growth for Cheil North America.
“The desire is to bring the Barbarian brand back to prominence back to where it had been,” Maglio said. “Since they were founded, their whole thing was to disrupt the digital landscape. Every time some new technology comes out, we’re going to be at the forefront of it.”
ADWEEK asked Maglio for his perspective on what readers can learn from his career, his new agency and the industry.
This interview has been condensed and edited.
Career advice
ADWEEK: You started as an account exec, a common path to leadership at an agency. What advice do you have for current account execs to reach leadership?
Joe Maglio: My value as an account person is to really balance the true needs of the client with the needs of the agency and make those mutually beneficial. That’s really what I I tried to do for the bulk of my career, and when you do that well over time, you start to get recognized as somebody who is able to build, maintain and retain client relationships, while also helping the agency grow. That is a real skill that account people should be cultivating over their careers.
