NEW YORK — The advertising firm TBWA has announced the promotion of Erin Riley to CEO of TBWA\Chiat\Day United States, effective immediately. In her new role, Riley will oversee offices in Los Angeles, Nashville and New York and is charged with the continued growth of the agencies in the US.
Riley has been with the collective since June of 2016 – first joining TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles as President, before taking the helm as CEO in 2021.
Riley loves to reveal the souls of brands and find the just right collision of marketing intelligence and creative magic to propel them into the cultural conversation and drive exponential growth. Having spent time on both the brand and agency side, she has a unique view of how to orchestrate the total brand experience. One key focus for her will be scaling the best-in-class specialisms within TBWA that have delivered significant growth and breakthrough work in both cities. This includes, DxD by TBWA\ for design, Feed by TBWA\ for social content creation, TBWA’s Health Collective and Plex by TBWA\ for B2B and the most complex businesses.
Troy Ruhanen, Global CEO, TBWA\Worldwide notes “This newly created role is a testament to both TBWA and Omnicom’s ability to foster the growth of brilliant leaders from within. The strength of TBWA is our collective mindset – our agencies connected by our common belief in Disruption and its willingness to share speed and scale. This united front will only amplify our strategic advantage and resources to push to even greater heights and get us to our future, faster.
TBWA is in an incredibly strong position to continue its growth and creative momentum. With our storied history of creating brand platforms underpinned by impactful creative work, I believe there’s no better or more deserving leader to continue that promise than Erin,” continued Ruhanen.
Over the past few years Riley has provided stability through the pandemic while growing the business by double digits, launching new B2B and design offerings, and adding over ten new clients to TBWA\Chiat\Day’s roster in LA. All of which contributed to TBWA being named Adweek’s Global Agency of the Year in 2021 and 2022, AdAge’s Global Network of the Year in 2022, and one of Fast Company’s World’s Most Innovative Companies for five consecutive years from 2019 to 2023. Furthermore, Riley was recently named a Campaign US 40 over 40 honoree and in 2023 TBWA was honored as one of Adweek’s top five US agencies and a Stand Out Agency on AdAge’s A-List.
Erin Riley, CEO, TBWA\Chiat\Day United States said, “Over the past nearly eight years at TBWA, I have been extremely grateful to work for a company with an ethos, values, and people I connect to so genuinely and fundamentally. It is wonderful to have the opportunity to continue to grow with TBWA and to partner with close to 2,000 incredibly smart, creative souls to drive impact at an even greater scale.
Both CDLA and CDNY are operating from positions of strength and I am looking forward to working with the outstanding leadership teams in both offices to capitalize on the current momentum and really set it afire. I have lived in both New York and Los Angeles and I have worked on both the agency and brand side – a range which enables me to both understand and honor each agency’s vibe and be a more astute and empathetic partner to our clients,” continued Riley.
TBWA is part of Omnicom Group and has over 11,000 employees in over 40 countries, and also includes brands such as Auditoire, Digital Arts Network (DAN), eg+ worldwide, GMR, TBWA\Media Arts Lab, TBWA\Health Collective and TRO. Global clients include adidas, Apple, Gatorade, Henkel, Hilton Hotels, McDonald’s, Nissan and Singapore Airlines.
