Walt
Connelly

about the speaker

Walt Connelly is a creative leader who has been instrumental in the shaping and expression of numerous global brands. Walt believes in telling stories that are always authentic to the brands they surround. A brand is the result of a series of actions not merely a series of statements and it is these actions that make great brands famous. Walt tells his stories in whatever medium is appropriate, be it content, digital, social, experiential or the 30-second spot.

Walt is currently working at TBWA/Chiat/Day/NY as a Global Executive Creative Director. His core philosophy and charge is to be an agent of change, to move brands forward through innovation and progressive thinking. Walt helped win the global LG business in 2022 and is helping to bring meaning to the brand’s promise of making Life Good. He also works on Travelers Insurance and helped create the unfinished stores campaign that brings attention to the issue of distracted driving. The idea won awards at the One Show, Andy’s and was also recognized at Cannes.

Walt spent 5 years as an ECD at JWT NY managing and redirecting key pieces of business: Microsoft, The Diamond Trading Company, Kleenex, Huggies, and HSBC. Walt was instrumental in the Microsoft wins for JWT, a $150M revenue piece of business, which included the People Ready Software Business, Microsoft Office and Bing. The work generated under his creative direction won a Titanium Lion for the Microsoft Geek Network. Walt also created the iconic HSBC Your Point Of View visual juxtaposition campaign that lined every global jetway for almost half a decade. It redefined HSBC as the world’s local bank. Kleenex and Huggies both launched integrated global campaigns under his direction, which shifted the space that each brand occupied making them memorable and differentiated in crowded CPG environments.

Prior to being a part of JWT, Walt spent 5 years as the global ECD on Microsoft at McCann Erickson in San Francisco, where he garnered numerous industry and effectiveness awards. Before his time in San Francisco, Walt was in NYC where he refined his craft at O&M and Euro RSCG. During this time, he worked on such brands as American Express, Brooks Brothers, Jaguar, Canal+, Volvo and Intel.

Walt has been recognized and awarded many times by The One Show, Communication Arts, NY Art Directors Club, D&AD, Cannes Lions, The Andy’s, Clios and Effies.