John Kenney has vowed never to go to super cuts again.

John Kenney has worked as a copywriter for more than 25 years at Ogilvy, McGarry Bowen, and Publicis. He has created campaigns for American Express, Citi, Chevron, Heineken, and Cadillac, to name a few. He’s written commercials, manifestos, speeches, op-ed pieces, and recently ghost-wrote parts of a memoir of a Fortune 50 CEO.

Where he’s been:

Freelance, New York

January 2019 to present

Freelanced regularly for Publicis, Dentsu, LMV, and Table of Content.

Publicis, New York

Executive Creative (2014 to 2018)

Amazing job with amazing people. Reported directly to CCO Andy Bird and CEO Carla Serrano. Worked on most every account in the agency, usually when the sh*t hit the fan. Lots of last-minute, we-need-an-idea-or-a-campaign-or-a-manifesto-like-now work. Which I love. Not a lot of time, a fair amount of pressure, then walk into a room and sell it. Created and produced campaigns for Cadillac, Coffee-Mate, Citi, and Heineken.

Freelance, New York (2010 – 2014)

Spent a lot of time at BBDO working on GE. Also helped Havas pitch new business, including Northrup Grumman. JWT on United Health Care. And Publicis on Citi, Cadillac, and others.

McGarry Bowen, New York

Executive Creative Director (2006–2010)

Hard to describe what MB was like at that time. Like riding a runaway horse. They won most every new business pitch they were in. I was part of a small team that won Century 21 News Corp, Tishman Speyer, and Chevron. We launched a worldwide campaign for Chevron that included TV, print, and social. We launched a two-and-a-half minute spot on the Academy Awards.

Paris (2005-2006)

I’d always wanted to live there. So I moved, freelanced for agencies in the States, spoke French badly, and a wrote a novel that was never published, with good reason, as it was long and not really about anything.

Ogilvy, New York (1997-2005)

Senior Copywriter
American Express, BP, AT&T. Learned from some amazing people.

Education
The University of Massachusetts at Amherst
B.A. in Journalism and English

Rowed crew, wrote for the Massachusetts Daily Collegian.