Lewis Lazare: DDB/Chicago scoured the world for months and on Monday came up with Michael Folino to succeed Bob Scarpelli as chief creative officer at the city’s second-largest agency. Folino starts his new job in early January.
Folino’s selection is risky for a few reasons. Folino did not grow up in the DDB culture, and the majority of his experience in the ad industry has been on the West Coast, where the agency culture is much flashier than it is here. But Scarpelli insisted Folino, 41, embodies two traits that are the bedrock of the DDB culture: creativity and humanity.
Folino certainly has the right credits on his resume, including relatively brief stints at some West Coast blue-chip shops: TBWA/ Chiat/Day in Los Angeles and San Francisco, Fallon’s West Coast shop and the venerable Wieden + Kennedy in Portland, Ore.
Asked about his creative philosophy, Folino said he thought it best not to have one. “Every situation is different,” he said.
Folino appears to have no major experience with fast food or beer accounts, which makes him an interesting choice, given that Anheuser-Busch and McDonald’s are two of DDB/Chicago’s biggest and highest-profile accounts.
Scarpelli said his first priority wasn’t getting someone whose strengths matched the agency’s major pieces of business. Also, sources familiar with developments said Scarpelli no doubt will continue to be the point man on Anheuser-Busch business, because he is the one with the contacts.
