John Norman

John Norman is the chief creative officer for Havas Chicago. John possesses a world-class level of advertising expertise combined with a profound respect for culture. He is a celebrated industry veteran who has worked with influential brands such as Walmart, Nike, Coca-Cola, and Gatorade. John is passionate about visual storytelling and brings more than 25 years of experience in advertising and design.

John oversees creative development for Havas Chicago’s roster of brands, including Citi, Cracker Barrel, Hefty, Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Moen, National Association of REALTORS®, Pillsbury Baking, Ragu Pasta Sauce and Reynolds Consumer Products. He guides the agency’s mission to build meaningful American brands through craft and culture, by developing creative content and storytelling that make an impact through modern platforms.

John joined Havas from Translation, where he was chief creative officer and partner. Before Translation, John served as chief creative officer at the Martin Agency, TBWA\Chiat\Day, and Wieden+Kennedy. At Wieden+Kennedy, John launched and led Coca-Cola’s “Open Happiness” campaign and the “Happiness Factory” franchise of spots; many World Cup campaigns, including the groundbreaking “Write the Future” work, for Nike; and the prestigious “+HP” campaign for Hewlett-Packard. He has worked with many other iconic brands including Apple, BASF, the NBA, Wyndham Hotels, Adidas, Pepsi, BF Goodrich, Heineken, the NFL, State Farm, Beats, Pirelli, and The Ad Council. Before his agency roles, John worked in design at Nike and Benetton Group.

Throughout John’s career, he has lived in Tokyo, Amsterdam, Italy, San Francisco, New York, and, now, Chicago. His work has won numerous awards including an Emmy; the Cannes Grand Prix; Grand Prix Epica Award; New York Art Directors’ Vision Award; Campaign of the Year and the Top 5 Award; multiple Cannes Lions, Effies and One Show medals; the Japan Nikkei Award; the Russian Grand Effie; and Adweek’s Spot of the Year.