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 21 Most Intriguing: Matt Ross
EVP, President, McCann Worldgroup, San Francisco; CEO of Global Microsoft AccountMatt Ross has a thing for turnarounds—at least, that’s what his resumé would suggest. The most recent example of this about-face affinity is his two-and-a-half year (to date) dual role as president of McCann Worldgroup San Francisco and CEO of the global Microsoft account, during which time he has grown the group by leaps and bounds, and evolved it from a back-of-the-pack traditional shop to a major digital player. Plus, his Microsoft account represents one of Silicon Valley's biggest magazine evangelists, as the brand spent upwards of $118 million in magazine advertising in 2006 (according to the MPA).“We’ve undergone an agency transformation,” he says. “Two and a half years ago, 90% of what we did was traditional, and then we really committed to digital, which is now 60% of the mix. And not only did the mix shift; now there’s a much bigger pie.” Ross better have a massive appetite, because that proverbial pie is more than 50% bigger than it was when he moved to McCann from Ogilvy’s New York office, where he was one of the lead executives on the global IBM account. Since the cross-country move, he has poached his former employer of notables including Joe Burton (now COO of Microsoft account), and spearheaded some “pretty exotic things.” “We created a viral digital search application [for Microsoft] called msdewey.com that’s built around live search. Then we reskinned it with personality,” he says, describing the “Ms. Dewey” character that greets and teases you with commentary whenever you type in a search term. It’s clearly more interactive than Google and Yahoo!’s traditional search functions, and it was marketed only through word-of-mouth e-mail outreach to about 150 of the team’s friends and family members; within weeks, it received more than 10 million search queries. This is but one example of Ross’ tendency toward digital innovations, and he is quick to credit his team, as “every effort is a coming-together of people who are creative digital enthusiasts.” His day job requires its fair share of creativity, but so does his other major role: dad to his son, Sam. “Deciphering the brain of a 4-year-old is a full-time job, and more interesting than any hobby,” he says. Other major accomplishments this year? Learning to walk slower (after 11 years of living in New York City) and actually stopping to look when he hears a siren. (That’s a big deal for a New Yorker—really.) “Best of all, our clients are telling us we’re doing the best job we’ve ever done for them,” he says. “In this business, we know the momentum can end tomorrow, so we’re going to celebrate while we have it.”
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