McCann appoints Brendan Gaul to head the expansion of long-form entertainment initiatives
McCann Worldgroup, a global advertising company, has announced that it will be integrating TRAVERSE32, a long-form entertainment production studio, into its creative network. This move aims to make it easier for McCann's clients to extend their brand platforms into long-form, Hollywood-style storytelling.
In this new setup, TRAVERSE32's team of six will join McCann as a dedicated, on-demand resource for its global creative teams. Brendan Gaul, the global president of TRAVERSE32, will now serve as McCann’s first global chief entertainment officer. He will continue to lead TRAVERSE32 while integrating entertainment property development at McCann.
This organizational change allows McCann's creative teams to ask, "Is there also an entertainment idea here?" whenever developing brand campaigns. This seamless collaboration will expand clients’ storytelling opportunities into longer-form formats such as documentaries, films, and series.
For McCann’s clients, this integration means access to award-winning expertise in producing culturally relevant stories that transcend traditional advertising. TRAVERSE32's acclaimed work, such as "Dear Santa" (U.S. Postal Service), "5B" (Johnson & Johnson), and "The Final Copy of Ilon Specht" (L'Oréal Paris), have created significant cultural impact while authentically aligning with brand identity.
The move of TRAVERSE32 under McCann aims to keep brand-owned intellectual property (IP) closer to creative teams with the infrastructure to package, distribute, and protect it. Gaul believes there is a growing demand from senior brand marketers for such Hollywood-style work.
This reshuffling of TRAVERSE32 under McCann is happening while Interpublic Group (IPG), McCann's parent company, prepares for acquisition by Omnicom. The expected acquisition of IPG by Omnicom will clear remaining regulatory hurdles this fall.
Brendan Gaul, who began his career at McCann 22 years ago as an art director, stated that long-form entertainment can significantly impact brand metrics. He further added that this move will help McCann in creating deeper cultural impact and audience engagement through compelling entertainment content.
In summary, moving TRAVERSE32 under McCann benefits clients by offering in-house long-form entertainment production capabilities aligned with creative teams, facilitating the development of brand-driven entertainment IP that can be packaged and protected effectively, enabling brands to create deeper cultural impact and audience engagement through storytelling beyond traditional advertising, and providing expert leadership and proven success in entertainment content development through Brendan Gaul and TRAVERSE32’s award-winning portfolio.
In this restructured setup, McCann's clients will have direct access to the expertise of TRAVERSE32, enabling them to explore brand ideas in long-form entertainment formats like documentaries, films, and series. The integration of TRAVERSE32, now led by Brendan Gaul as McCann's first global chief entertainment officer, will allow for seamless collaboration between finance, business, and entertainment divisions to create impactful and culturally relevant brand stories.
