Independent, employee-owned network of creative agencies, Project Worldwide, is expanding its leadership team through two key appointments to supercharge the unique platform. Matt Statman will become President, Integrated Agency Group, representing the group’s creative agency portfolio of over a dozen brands, a role he is taking on in addition to remaining CEO and Chief Creative Officer of Motive, an agency he founded that lives within the Project portfolio. Chris Meyer will become Global CEO, George P Johnson Co., (GPJ) the network’s experiential marketing agency, representing the earliest and largest business within the network.
This role adds Asia Pacific GPJ to Chris’s current oversight of Americas and EMEA.
“Chris and Matt have been strong partners for more than a decade. They will work together to foster our network’s collective community and further drive cross-agency collaboration, “ said Robert Vallee Jr., Chairman and CEO of Project Worldwide, a business that encompasses 2,000+ teammates in 42 markets around the world supporting the most significant brands. After working for and eventually leading GPJ over the course of 34 years, Vallee. established the vision for Project in 2010, which has led to the establishment or acquisition of more than a dozen agencies including ARGONAUT, DARKHORSE, G7 Entertainment Marketing, JUXT, Motive, OS Studios, Partners + Napier, Praytell, Raumtechnik, Shoptology, Spinifex, and Wondersauce.
As President, Integrated Agency Group, Statman will focus on identifying opportunities to accelerate growth and scale, to deliver a holistic approach to solving client marketing challenges through leveraging each agency’s complementary strengths, and to bring forward the best creative minds within the network. Statman founded Motive 20 years ago as a haven for renegade minds to explore the most cutting-edge iterations of creativity. The agency was acquired by Project in 2012, one of the first and currently the largest creative agency within the portfolio. The success of Statman’s vision has led to tremendous and consistent growth for Motive across North America, with offices in Denver, its original home, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Toronto. Leading-edge marketers such as PepsiCo, Frito-Lay, Constellation, Danone, Burger King, and Ram Trucks have relied on and continue to look to Motive to help them achieve cultural resonance and forge durable connections with consumers.
“I’m incredibly excited and humbled to be trusted with the challenge of taking on this group of agencies with extraordinary leaders and incredible talent. I’m committed to accelerating the vision of Project, a community where the best ideas get brought forward to deliver true client impact, people have pride in the work they deliver, resulting in our colleagues and clients making future history together,” said Statman.
In his new role as Global CEO of GPJ, the world’s leading experience marketing agency, Meyer will lead further scale and capacity across the worldwide team. Meyer has spearheaded the revitalization of the
100+-year-old agency since 2013, ensured GPJ’s recognition as the home of experiential marketing’s preeminent experts and created year-over-year revenue growth. Meyer’s early investment in digital technology in 2008 proved to be visionary, as GPJ successfully navigated through the pandemic years and produced over 700 digital events in 2020, including the record-breaking 13 million viewers of the GPJ-produced Salesforce.com Dreamforce. As experiential rebounded in 2022, the agency successfully pivoted back to face to face and hybrid experiences and once again leads the pack in this category. Under Meyer’s leadership, the agency has been recognized as a top place to work by Event Marketer and Ad Age and has strong long-term relationships with global brands like Charles Schwab, Cisco, Google, Honda, IBM, Nissan, Salesforce, Stellantis, Workday and many others.
“I’m honored to take on global leadership to continue the incredible 100+ year legacy of being a driving force in the role that experiential plays to power brands, and to continue our heritage of client trust,” said Meyer.
“Together with GPJ’s global expansion, resilience and longevity, coupled with a deeper partnership across the Project Integrated Agency Group, we have a blueprint to bring forward the most ambitious ideas and support for clients across the world,” said Vallee.
Author: Adam Parry
Adam is the co-founder and editor of www.eventindustrynews.com Adam, a technology evangelist also organises Event Tech Live, Europe’s only show dedicated to event technology and the Event Technology Awards. Both events take place in November, London.
