Edelman hires Saatchis creative chief Kate Stanners for top international role

Edelman has hired Kate Stanners, chairwoman and global chief creative officer at Saatchi & Saatchi, to the newly-appointed role of chief creative officer, international.

Stanners will report to Judy John, Edelman’s global CCO, and Ed Williams, the agency’s president of international.

She will be responsible for Edelman’s creative business and community across international markets, overseeing EMEA and APAC, with a team of about 100.

Stanners will be based in London and will join later in the autumn. Marie-Claire Maalouf, CCO of EMEA, and Tim Green, CCO of Asia-Pacific, will report to her.

Recruiting a top creative from a global advertising agency network is a significant move by Edelman, one of the world's biggest public relations agencies, as the family-controlled business looks to compete with some of the big, listed ad agency groups.

Richard Edelman, chief executive of Edelman, said: “We are doubling down on creative while others in the sector are moving in the opposite direction. Kate is one of the most formidable creative leaders in the industry, and I’m thrilled to finally welcome her to Edelman after trying to recruit her for five years.

“This is a moment in time for Edelman to emerge as a creative powerhouse. We believe in creative based on action and our deep understanding of earned creative in the creator economy and our position at the intersection of brand and reputation makes us uniquely equipped to lead the industry forward.”

Edelman told Campaign that the recruitment of Stanners was part of a wider strategy to expand beyond PR, which currently generates about three-quarters of revenues, as well as beyond its US home market. The agency's other capabilities include creative, strategy, research, production and experiential.

However, he was keen to emphasise: “We're not moving into the advertising space.” Rather, he said Edelman is developing what he called an “earned media flywheel” for clients, in a similar vein to the way Publicis Groupe has built what he described as its “paid media flywheel”.

Stanners joins Edelman after more than two decades at Publicis shop Saatchi & Saatchi, where she helped lead creativity for global and regional clients such as HSBC, Visa, T-Mobile and P&G. She joined Saatchi & Saatchi in 2005 as executive creative director.

She said: “Earned media has become such a powerful tool in a brand’s communications armoury, building community, conversation and connection in impactful ways. There’s a freedom that comes when you truly unleash the unreasonable power of creativity on real business problems. I look forward to collaborating with Edelman’s talented teams across the network to build work that not only stands out but makes a difference.”

Stanners was president of D&AD from 2019 to 2020 and sits on councils for AB InBev Europe and The Kraft Heinz Company. She was also Film Lions president at this year’s Cannes Lions, served as a committee member for the Victoria & Albert Museum and is a co-founder of St Luke’s in London.

John oversees creative globally, including the Americas, for Edelman. She also hails from the ad agency world as she worked at Publicis-owned Leo Burnett as CEO of Canada and chief creative officer of North America, before joining the PR shop as its first global CCO in 2019.

She said: “We’re at a cultural inflection point where brand, media and culture are colliding in new and unpredictable ways. This is exactly when creativity matters most. When ideas need to break through the noise, earn attention and drive action. Kate’s appointment reinforces our commitment to building bold, earned-first work that drives conversation and makes an impact.”

A Saatchis spokesperson said: “We are grateful for the contribution Kate has made across Saatchi & Saatchi’s global network over the past two decades. Kate has inspired a generation of creative leaders through her work inside our walls and out, and we wish her every success in her next chapter.”