VML’s Jon Cook steps down after 30 years, with Eric Campbell named global CEO

Jon Cook is stepping down as global chief executive of VML and WPP Creative after three decades at the agency. He will stay until March 2027 to hand over to Eric Campbell, currently chief executive of VML and WPP Creative in North America, who will become VML’s global chief executive while keeping his North American role, as Adweek reported.

Who is Jon Cook

Cook spent about 30 years at VML, rising to run it globally and then to lead WPP Creative, the umbrella for the group’s creative agencies. He was central to the merger with Wunderman Thompson, agreed in 2023, that created the modern VML, and to WPP’s broader reshaping of its agency brands. He called leaving “one of the most difficult” decisions he has made. “After three decades of pouring everything I have into this agency and all of WPP, it is time to build something new,” he said.

Why it matters

The holding companies are in the middle of their biggest reorganisation in a generation. Omnicom has absorbed IPG and retired some of advertising’s oldest names, WPP has consolidated its media agencies into WPP Media and its creative agencies into a handful of networks, and the agency model itself is being questioned by clients who now pay for outputs rather than hours, as last week’s WFA study showed.

Losing the leader who built VML in its current form, during that transition, is significant. Campbell’s appointment signals continuity rather than another rebuild, and the long handover suggests WPP wants to avoid the impression of a sudden departure. For how the groups fit together, see our guide to the holding companies.