Wade McCune Returns to CJRW as Creative Director

Wade McCune is returning to CJRW in May as its creative director.

Wade McCune, who won several baubles of his award-winning advertising career while at CJRW more than a decade ago, is returning to the advertising, public relations and digital marketing agency as its creative director, starting May 9.

Darin Gray, chairman and CEO of the firm, among the state’s largest, announced the appointment April 25, calling it “a real coup for us.” McCune, a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, will oversee creative strategies and products for clients, and will lead the creative division of the firm’s downtown Little Rock office at Third and Main streets.

“I sat down with Darin and heard his vision for me and for the firm, and I was very impressed,” McCune said in a telephone interview the day after the announcement. “I know a lot of the creative staff by reputation, but I also actually worked with 10 or 12 of those folks, and they’re outstanding. It’s a talented and complete staff, and I’m excited to get back.”

For the past eight years, McCune said, he has been creative director at Thoma Thoma, the Little Rock marketing agency led by branding guru Martin Thoma. Before that, he had his own firm, Show Creative/Marketing in North Little Rock, where he and Amber Brewer did work for clothing designer Tre Vero won several Addy Awards from the Arkansas Advertising Federation. 

Other awards include five gold national Addy Awards from the American Advertising Federation, as well as honors from the Radio Advertising Bureau and the Public Relations Society of America.  

The creative director position at CJWR has been open since Jay Cranford left the firm in 2014, according to Senior Vice President and Chief Public Relations Officer Richard McKeown. 

“Since then, we have been on a deliberate search to find the right person with very specific skill sets and experience. Wade McCune is that person,” McKeown said.

Returning to CJRW, McCune said, is “a great opportunity” to work with “really good people on really good accounts. The team is ready to go.”

McCune has worked with notable brands like Arkansas Parks and Tourism, Oaklawn, Entergy, UAMS, Dillard’s, the Capital Hotel and others, according to a news release from CJRW. 

Gray described McCune as “one of the sharpest, most intuitive creative minds not only in Arkansas, but in the region as well. He has a deep understanding of brand strategy and the creative process, and how to bring those to bear in support of client goals.”

McCune said that his earlier stint at CJRW, where for nine years he worked as a writer and associate creative director, included “the best work of my career.”