About me
Karen was appointed CEO of McCann Manchester in January 2019. She leads the integrated agency, recognised as McCann UK's centre of retail excellence, and a leading industry player in the North of England, with a remit to help brands play a meaningful role in peoples' lives to deliver exponential growth and innovation. Key clients include Aldi, Matalan, Magnet, Smyths Toys Superstores and HSL.
Prior to joining McCann, Karen was both Chair and CEO of Publicis London, where she successfully drove integration across all the specialists in the UK group to deliver seamless creativity for clients including Morrisons, L'Oréal, Renault, Heineken and Essity. Before Publicis she was Managing Director of The Red Brick Road, an independent Agency, where she was the Exec lead across all of Tesco UK and prior to that Head of Account Management at DDB.
Karen is passionate about authentic leadership and building inclusive cultures, and is proud to have 60% female representation on the McCann Manchester Board. She is also an active member of WACL campaigning for gender equality, a long-standing member of the IPA Council, and recently joined Sported as a Board Trustee in March 2019, a sports development charity set with a mission to help young people thrive through sport.
Karen is married with two teenage boys, a keen sports enthusiast and an avid reader (when time permits).
Karen Buchanan has been a Contributor since 25th November 2015.