Ari Weiss is leaving DDB Worldwide, where he has been since the beginning of 2017, as global chief creative officer for four years and the agency’s first chief creative officer for North America for the three years prior to that. He intends to set up his own agency in the new year.

Weiss joined DDB from six years at BBH New York, the last two as chief creative officer. He began his career at Goodby Silverstein & Partners and went on to work at BBDO, Wieden+Kennedy and Cliff Freeman & Partners, creating awarded work for brands such as Skittles, Starburst, Twix, Miller Lite, Coors Light, McDonald’s and Volkswagen.

 Under his leadership, DDB was awarded Network of the Year at The One Show and D&AD three years in a row. This year, for the first time in its 74-year history, DDB was named Network of the Year at Cannes Lions.

“Lots of emotions today,” said Weiss in a statement. “It’s never easy to move on from something you love. I am incredibly proud of what we’ve built at DDB. And even more proud of the people we’ve built it with. I took this job seven years ago to see if I could help scale creativity globally. And along with an incredible team we did just that. We’ve built a system that empowers local markets to invest in creativity. Not out of vanity but because our best clients and our best offices thrive off creativity. And when they thrive our global offering thrives.

“Since my days as an intern at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, I’ve dreamed of starting my own agency. Independent agencies have always driven progress in our industry because they are built from the ground up to best address the issues of their times. There is nothing I love more than making things people love. I love obsessing about a client’s business and relentlessly applying creativity to all parts of their business to unlock its true potential. It’s never been harder to thrive in this industry, but when you get it right it’s never been more rewarding. I truly believe there hasn’t been a more exciting time to be in this industry.”

“Ari’s creative talent has been globally celebrated and appreciated by our clients and teams across the network. We wish him the very best in his new, entrepreneurial endeavour,” added DDB Worldwide global chief executive officer, Alex Lubar.