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TRAVERSE32, the long-form entertainment production studio part of IPG Mediabrands, will move under creative network McCann. As part of the transition, TRAVERSE32 global president Brendan Gaul will join McCann as its first global chief entertainment officer.<\/p>\n
In the new role, Gaul will continue to run TRAVERSE32 while leading entertainment property development at McCann. The move aims to make it easy for McCann\u2019s clients to extend their brand platforms into long-form, Hollywood-style storytelling, while keeping brand-owned IP closer to creative teams with the infrastructure to package, distribute, and protect it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe role is to take the work that is being developed by our creative teams within McCann and say, \u2018is there also an entertainment idea there?\u2019\u201d Gaul said.<\/p>\n
TRAVERSE32\u2019s team of six will join McCann as a dedicated, on-demand resource for its global creative teams looking to extend client work into entertainment.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes there\u2019s a brief that comes in and the client says, \u2018I want to make a film.\u2019 Now we have the right expertise within McCann to help tackle that challenge together,\u201d Gaul said.<\/p>\n
Gaul added that McCann \u201chas a long history of creating things in culture that transcend advertising,\u201d from A Charlie Brown Christmas<\/em> for Coca-Cola to the agency\u2019s appearance in the final episode of Mad Men. TRAVERSE32\u2019s work includes Dear Santa<\/em>, a documentary and series for the U.S. Postal Service; 5B<\/em>, a documentary about an AIDS ward for Johnson & Johnson; and The Final Copy of Ilon Specht<\/em> for L\u2019Or\u00e9al Paris, about the copywriter who coined the brand\u2019s famous \u201cBecause I\u2019m Worth It\u201d tagline, which won the 2025 Cannes Lions Grand Prix for Film.<\/p>\n Gaul said long-form entertainment can \u201cmove some of the hardest to move metrics\u201d for brands. He pointed to Dear Santa for the USPS, which was tested in multiple formats\u2014a trailer, a 30-minute TV episode, and a 90-minute film\u2014and consistently showed that \u201cthe longer the audience stays with the work, the more the metrics move in favor of the brand.\u201d<\/p>\n Such projects not only engage audiences in a new way, but also \u201cbuild a different kind of partnership with the most senior of brand clients,\u201d Gaul said.<\/p>\n For Gaul, the new role marks a return to McCann, where he began his career 22 years ago as an art director. He has since built his career on creating Hollywood-style entertainment for major brands like L\u2019Or\u00e9al, Johnson & Johnson, and the USPS.<\/p>\n \u201cNow there\u2019s almost a calling from the most senior brand marketers that are really looking for that kind of work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\nBrands, Meet Hollywood<\/h4>\n