Advertising veteran Adam Kerj joins Accenture Interactive in Nordics

Adam Kerj, one of Sweden’s most awarded creative leaders, has joined Accenture Interactive as the firm’s first Creative Chief for Accenture Interactive in the Nordics. Kerj has been tasked with creating new business opportunities in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. 

The executive joins Accenture after serving as Chief Commercial Officer at McCann. Prior to that, he held a board role at creative and digital agency 360i, an arm of Dentsu, and advertising agency J Walter Thompson New York. Throughout his career he has led campaigns for such brands as Ben & Jerry’s, Coca-Cola, HBO, Macy’s, Oreo, Pampers, Puma, Rolex, Sony, Tide and Toyota, and his work has been awarded by the Cannes Lions, One Show and other trade organisations. 

Kerjs’ appointment is part of Accenture Interactive's strategy to bolster its presence in the region. The firm has a strong presence in Sweden, thanks to its purchases of design agency Fjord and e-commerce specialists Brightstep, yet still trails the larger creative groups in both Sweden as well as the other Nordic countries. According to Kerjs, Accenture, in leveraging its expertise in creative combined with a heritage in consulting and technology, is well positioned to tap into the opportunities in Scandinavia. 

“Never before have creatives had more opportunities to create engaging ideas and experiences that have a direct impact on brands and on clients’ businesses. Accenture Interactive is well positioned to bring innovative ideas and experiences to market for our clients across the entire consumer journey. The talent here is truly exceptional and different from traditional agencies in the Nordic market, which makes this role so exciting.”

Kerj added that he believes Accenture Interactive has a further edge on traditional agencies through its ability to “have a faster impact on a client’s business” due to its lack of a traditional legacy structure. Asked how he looks at the claim by traditional agencies that the large consulting group such as Accenture lack the creative skills, Kerj commented; “Creatively, we can figure out everything more or less by ourselves. We will bring something slightly different to the table, but that is absolutely the ambition: to be as creative as other agencies.” 

The new Creative Chief will however in the process have to fend off fierce competition from rival consulting firms. Globally, Accenture is facing the likes of IBM, Deloitte and PwC, which have in recent years all nestled themselves among the world’s ten largest creative and digital agencies according to data from US magazine AdAge. In the Nordics, Deloitte Digital has a strong presence building on its acquisitions of digital agency Mobiento (2015) and creative agency Acne (2017), while PwC picked up design agency Pond (2017) and more recently the Olso office of Livework. Meanwhile, US strategy consultant McKinsey & Company bolted-on Veryday in the Nordics in 2016, a Swedish design agency. 

Commenting on the addition of Kerj, Mattias Boman, Head of Accenture Interactive in the Nordics, said, “We believe that creativity and human insights are the currency that make the big difference in forging strong, loyal and valuable relationships with consumers. We're thrilled that Adam is joining to spearhead our creative capabilities at this exciting time for Accenture Interactive.”

Earlier this year, multinationals BMW and Radisson Hotels both called in Accenture Interactive in a bid to bolster their digital marketing and advertising activities.