Ian MacKellar, INNOCEAN Worldwide

Ian is one of the most successful creative people in Canada.

While leading the creative department of BBDO, the Toronto office won the most awards in its Canadian history, won multiple Lions at Cannes, was named top Canadian agency on the Gunn Report and in the vast 200+ agency-strong BBDO Network, BBDO Toronto leapt to be the 4th most awarded in the world.

As CCO of O&M, Ian helped return Ogilvy to Cannes with multiple Lions wins for signature client, Dove. And supported Ogilvy’s ambition to be the most effective agency in the world with multiple wins at the Effie Awards.

Both as copywriter and Creative Director, Ian has consistently been ranked at the top of Strategy Magazine’s National Creative Report Card by routinely winning at Cannes, The One Show, D&AD, the Clios, the Effie Awards, Communication Arts, the Marketing Awards, Applied Arts and the Advertising & Design Club of Canada Awards.

Ian began his career at Cossette Communications before moving to join Roche Macaulay & Partners where he helped contribute to two Strategy Agency of the Year wins. Ian then spent twelve years at BBDO, rising through the ranks to become the agency’s ECD. After a short stint as ECD at Bensimon Byrne, Ian joined Ogilvy & Mather succeeding industry legends, Janet Kestin and Nancy Vonk as CCO. Ian then headed south to creatively lead global business at J. Walter Thompson New York. Most recently, Ian returned home to steer the creative fortunes of Innocean Worldwide Canada.

If you were to sum up Ian’s creative philosophy, it would be this: “…the world isn’t sitting around in eager anticipation of your work, so it is imperative that you make something interesting; something beautiful and something that matters. To do anything less is wasting everyone’s time.”