Andrew Swinand joins Inspired Thinking Group as CEO

Andrew Swinand, former CEO of Publicis Creative and Leo Burnett in the US, has moved to London to join Inspired Thinking Group (ITG) as CEO.

He takes on the role at the UK-based agile content company as current CEO Simon Ward moves into the role of founder and advisor.

A 23-year resident of Chicago, Swinand moved to London to run ITG, which uses proprietary technology to localize, personalize and distribute content for brands including Heineken, Costa Coffee and John Lewis & Partners.

Swinand announced his departure from Publicis in December, intending to stay there until the spring. He was a boomerang within the holding company, leading the Starcom MediaVest group as president from 2000 to 2011, then the creative activity of Publicis from 2017 to 2024.

At the time, Publicis announced that former Droga5 CEO Susie Nam would take up her role, overseeing agencies Leo Burnett, Saatchi & Saatchi, Fallon, BBH, Team One, The Community and Turner Duckworth in the US.

Swinand said he discovered ITG while researching “the best tech agile content company in the world.”

“It’s not news that big creative agencies are in decline and under enormous pressure,” he said. “There will always be a need for big ideas and brand identity. But every client I spoke to asked me, “How can I produce more with less, because my budgets haven’t increased?” »

Launched in 2009, ITG employs 1,300 people across two divisions. A technology group, which has around 500 people, develops proprietary platforms such as Storyteq and Deployteq, which automate content creation and distribution, respectively.

The creative group, which has around 800 people, provides services to support in-house brand teams and creative agencies with their “halo content” strategies, aka the hundreds of assets that brands must deploy today on social networks.

“In a socially enabled world…customers will need more halo content. So for me, I saw a market opportunity and I saw an unmet customer need,” Swinand said.

Swinand said he was also attracted to ITG because it offers both technology and services, providing the infrastructure modern marketers need to distribute content at scale while adding value and applying human creativity and support. ITG said it has about 120 creatives on staff and 200 to 300 people on its creative production team.

The group licenses its technology on a SaaS model and integrates teams with clients, defined according to defined deliverables.

Rather than competing, ITG works with creative agencies to adapt their brand platforms and flagship content for different local platforms and markets. It also partners directly with brands to develop internal teams; In February, John Lewis Partners announced its partnership with ITG to launch an in-house agency.

“The future is about collaboration and networked approaches,” Swinand said. “We’re not saying ‘OK, Saatchi, we’re going to create your iconic holiday spot (for John Lewis).’ It’s about how to take the big idea and… think about all the assets that need to be created, and they all need to tie back into the brand.

“People still have ideas, but how can we use AI and technology operationally to expand and improve, not replace? He continued.

ITG spent 13 months searching for a CEO. For Ward, Swinand was the right successor because he was a good culture fit and shared the company’s vision for automation, technology and collaboration.

It helps that Swinand is American, because ITG, focused in Europe, has its eyes on the global market, of which the United States is key.

In leaving the big agency world, Swinand said he sees the industry “bifurcating.”

“You’ll always need…the Leo Burnetts and the Saatchis.” They are great at what they do and I am proud of what I did there. But where I see opportunities is… technology and the move towards a more automated, service-backed approach.