Former DDB CCO Ari Weiss Launches Indie Agency

Photo Credit: Norma Jean Roy

Brand Identity by &Walsh

Ari Weiss, former Global Chief Creative Officer at Omnicom Group agency DDB, has launched an  independent advertising agency called Quality Experience (QX). Weiss will serve as Founder and Creative Chairman, with new partners Colleen Leddy, Cristina Reina, and Dan Gonda joining as Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Creative Officer, and Chief Executive Officer, respectively.

Quality Experience is built on the core belief that “Experience is everything and everything is an experience.” A brand identity capturing that concept has been developed in partnership with creative agency &Walsh.

 

 

Explains Weiss: “We’re not talking just experiential marketing; at Quality Experience, we believe all aspects of advertising should be looked at as experiences. It raises the stakes in everything we do. It drives us to look at every interaction with a brand as an opportunity. This requires a simple idea that can flex and connect, adding value across thousands of touchpoints.”

 

 

The executive lineup includes:

● Colleen Leddy joins as Partner and CSO, following more than a decade at Droga5, most recently serving as CSO. Her knack for integrated thinking has maximized the impact of campaigns for world-class brands such as Under Armour, The New York Times, JP Morgan Chase, Mailchimp, and Meta.

● Cristina Reina, formerly Global Executive Creative Director and Head of Art at McCann North America, will serve as Partner and CCO, a role that embodies her passion for groundbreaking creativity. To date, she has been instrumental in creating innovative pieces for brands such as Microsoft, Smirnoff, and Verizon, to name a few.

● Dan Gonda, who joins having spent more than 10 years at Droga5 where he most recently served as CEO, will oversee agency operations as Partner and CEO. He brings with him more than 20 years of industry experience working with some of the biggest brands in the world across almost every category.

 

(l to r) Reina, Weiss, Leddy, Gonda