Krystle Mullin, most recently executive creative director at Edelman, joined John. St as chief creative officer in early September.
Announcing her appointment, the agency’s president Ally Ballantyne said she is confident that Mullin’s multi-disciplinary experience will mean a brighter future for the agency, and credited Mullin’s arrival with two recent account wins.
The new CCO interned at John. St early in her career, and went on to gain experiences as an ACD at FBC/ SIX, and VP creative director at RPA in Los Angeles, where she ran accounts for Honda, Amazon Prime Video, Cedars-Sinai and La-Z-Boy.
In 2016, she was one of 14 women from around the world selected by Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity to participate in “See it, Be It,” a career accelerator program for women in the advertising community. This July, she returned to the conference as a keynote speaker. Her work has been recognized by Cannes Lions, The One Show, The Clios and D&AD, to name a few.
“John St. is an iconic brand in and of itself, with a strong legacy of producing unignorable creative that stands out at a global level. In partnership with Ally and the talented team here, we’re going to take John St. to exciting new places (both figuratively and literally),” said Mullin, in a release. “I hope to pay homage to John St.’s trail blazing past, while also evolving who we are to support the needs of our clients for today and tomorrow’s consumer.”
Mullin is only the third CCO in the agency’s history, preceded by Cher Campbell, who took the role from the agency’s co-founder Angus Tucker in 2020. John St. parted ways with Cher Campbell early this year, leaving the position temporarily unfilled.
Tucker returned part-time as a consultant while the agency conducted an extensive search, with multiple freelance senior creative leaders enlisted for additional support.
Mullin’s appointment is one of several senior-level changes at John St. in the past few years, including Ballantyne’s appointment as president last June, replacing Stephanie Hurst. “This hire signals our deep commitment to creativity and continuing to create unignorable ideas for our clients’ brands,” said Ballantyne, in a release. “This is exactly what our clients have been asking for.”
As for future growth, the agency is riding the high of those two recent wins, with ambitions to both add new clients and grow with existing ones, Ballantyne told The Message. “Krystle is a huge part of both our growth and creative ambitions. 2024 is going to be an exciting year at John St.”
