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Jury

Andrew McKechnie
SVP, Chief Creative Officer
Verizon

NEW YORK, USA // As Verizon’s first ever Chief Creative Officer he oversees all of the company’s creative output and brings Verizon's brand vision to life across all channels.

His initial task when he started at the company in February 2017, was to launch Verizon’s first in-house creative ad agency, 140 – named for its street address at Verizon’s headquarters in Tribeca. The agency now includes a diverse group of over 100 people and most recently helped launch Verizon Up, the company's new rewards program. Since joining, Andrew has launched various campaigns starring Thomas Middleditch and Gaten Matarazzo, evolving the brand’s Next Generation retail stores, and creating digital experiences including the “Find the 8” Augmented Reality activation around the launch of the iPhone 8.

While he still calls New Zealand home, he spent his childhood in Kenya, the Philippines and Indonesia. Throw Singapore, Boston, New York, and San Francisco into the mix and you can see why his accent is a little peculiar.

Beginning his career in Asia, he soon become one of the region’s most promising young writers. During his time at BBDO and JWT, he picked up major international awards, including the Outdoor Grand Prix at AdFest and Gold medals at Cannes, ADC, the One Show, and YoungGuns. He was also named Young Professional of the Year by the 4As and honored by the CLIO Awards as one of the Top 6 Young Writers in the world.

He came stateside in 2008, joining Modernista! in Boston where he led integrated campaigns for Cadillac, (RED), and National Park Foundation. The lure of New York brought him to Y&R in 2010, where he became Global Creative Director on LG Electronics across all divisions and in 2012 he became Executive Creative Director on the Land Rover North America, United States Olympic Committee, and Footaction accounts. His highly acclaimed “Roam Free” work for Land Rover was the agency’s most awarded work that year.

In 2013 Andrew joined DDB New York as Executive Creative Director to run the global Reebok account on all fitness categories, and was the creative lead on projects for WATERisLIFE and the New York City Ballet, both of which received high praise for their provocative and moving short films. TIME Magazine named the

In 2014 he joined Apple as Global Group Creative Director, responsible for the creative output of Product Packaging, Graphic Design, Retail and Channel Communications, Events, Print, Outdoor, and Product Launches. During his time at Apple, Andrew helped transform Apple's communication with initiatives that pushed the company into new areas around creative expression.