Gannon and Rice: Meet BBH’s New MDs

Earlier this year BBH London made moves to strengthen its leadership under the helm of CEO Karen Martin, promoting James Rice and Bobbie Gannon from managing partners to the newly created roles of joint client managing directors. 

Their brief? Grow the business, nurture the culture, and keep BBH’s creative pulse racing. No easy feat.

The pair aren’t new to the workings of the agency; Gannon joined BBH in 2021 as business lead after a near-11 year stint at AMV BBDO. She went on to run its Barclays account, and after promotion to managing partner in 2023, led its Audi and Paddy Power accounts - with notable works from ‘A Shirt Is For Life, Not Just Christmas’ and ‘Love At First Light’. 

Rice joined BBH in 2012 as an account manager, after beginning his career as a graduate trainee at TBWA/London, and in his 13 years at the agency has worked on and led accounts including Persil, Audi and Weetabix. 2022 saw a promotion to head of account management before being promoted to managing partner in 2023. 

Over the last two years, Rice has led the Tesco and Burger King accounts, which has seen the production of acclaimed campaigns from ‘Bundles of Joy’ to ‘Icons’. 

Creative Salon sat down with the pair to discuss their new roles, agency highlights, and overall industry opinions.

Creative Salon: You were both promoted to client MDs at the start of the year. How are you finding it now that you’ve got your feet firmly under the table? 

Bobbie Gannon: I’m mostly leaning on James! 

James Rice: It took us a while to get our super cool Client MD secret handshake down pat. But that aside everyone around us has been extremely kind and generous with their time and advice.

How does it feel to be leading the charge for maintaining the momentum of delivering great creativity across BBH’s client portfolio?

BG: The creative firepower we have on the 4th floor is unstoppable, led by Alex and Felipe and with so many brilliant teams that are making the impossible happen on a daily basis. We had a great showing in Cannes with 22 shortlists and three Lions and three D&AD Pencils earlier this year. The portfolio of work coming out of BBH has never been better - being honest, it would be much harder to stop the momentum, than maintain it! 

JR: I think you’ve always been able to feel the periods where everyone at BBH is on their creative A-game, and that’s certainly how it’s feeling right now. We’re getting to know our clients on a deeper level, we’re having more impact on their businesses, and that’s showing through in the confidence and creativity of the work. And the pipeline of what’s to come is looking pretty great too. 

What are your top priorities for the agency as client MDs?

BG: Creativity, clients and culture. They’re all of equal importance and interlinked. The creative is what BBH has always been about. It’s what our clients and our talent come (and stay) for. It’s what drives impact for our clients. It’s what feeds our culture, what makes us work hard to do our best by our people. And it’s what helps us think differently, which is what BBH has always been about. 

What are you most enjoying in this role partnership? 

BG: For me, I’m loving having a partner in crime who’s brilliant and brings a different viewpoint to make sure we make the best decisions for the agency. Whilst also knowing that I never have to be the ‘funny’ one in our double act! 

JR: Having a second brain and a different perspective when looking at big questions will, I hope, mean we get to better answers, faster. For me, there’s nothing more soul-soothing than when Bobbie comes up with a brilliant idea that I’d never have got to. 

What are your highlights so far from your time at BBH, and this year in particular?

BG: That’s a toughy. I think for me, the creative renaissance on Audi this year has been a joy, from eye-catching OOH with Tiny Car and Paper Plane, showing up in cultural moments with Car Couture at LWF and Engine Symphony at the Proms, and even a carpool singing Reel 2 Real acapella for ‘Light As You Like It’.  Subverting the usual car ad tropes with work that feels different, exciting and entertaining.

Mentos Fizzooka was also a wild ride, we couldn’t have predicted that it would explode in the way it did (pun intended). The energy feels like it's well and truly back in the building and that’s really showing through in the work. 

JR: I’ve been very fortunate to have some long-standing client relationships in my time here at BBH and on Tesco it’s been an incredible journey going from being part of the team that launched Food Love Stories eight years ago, to now leading the Tesco business and getting work like our Icons out into the world. It was brilliant to see that work shortlisted at Cannes, while also getting to celebrate bringing home two Silver for Burger King Bundles of Joy. As a Dad of two, I know what that post-labour hunger looks like and I’m incredibly proud of that work, and the impact it's had. 

What career moment are you most proud of?

BG: Whenever my family tells me about a great ad or campaign, not knowing that it’s one of my clients- that’s when I know it’s going to work. Most recently, it has to be the Audi ‘Light As You Like It’ work. Shows you can show up and irreverent but still have impeccable craft underpinning it all.  

JR: Our Bundles of Joy work last year on Burger King was a proper moment. It was an idea that needed a united client and agency squad to build, protect, hustle and craft. And the reaction and impact it had after all that was such a proud moment for all of us. Something the industry agrees on, given the haul of awards this year! That’s not why we do the work, but it’s always a lovely bonus. 

What still takes you by surprise in this industry?

BG: The huge impact that creativity has on client businesses and how it can ever be hypothesised that it could be replaced by anything other than a human brain. Our CEO, Karen, said earlier this year in her IPA President’s Speech that ‘creativity when applied to big business problems, drives big business impacts’ and that has never been truer than it is today. When we look at the data, and the impact of the work, the commercial value of creativity is undeniable. It surprises me that people still question that and suggest it can all be automated (looking at you Zuckerberg). 

What future changes would you like to see?

BG: Proper inclusivity and equity. This isn’t something that our industry can do alone, but equally we cannot rely on anyone else to do it for us. We’re missing out on fantastic talent, and that needs to change. This is why initiatives like Barn and Homegrown (which has just started up for its next intake of students) are so important to protect and grow - they break down barriers to the industry and ensure more different and diverse voices are heard. 

Finally, what advice would you give to someone wanting to get into this industry? 

JR: You’re jumping into an industry that over the next few years will be seeing massive change and noodling massive questions around how we all make work and where that work lives. But what won’t be changing is the original thinking and human creativity that sits at the heart of it. At BBH, we focus on human creativity, craft and taste. We never lose sight of what BBH brings in terms of insight, thinking and the power of the idea. Technology is in service to that, not replacing it. 

So, make sure you’re looking for a home where that primacy of the idea still exists and you won’t go wrong.