Arcade founder Matt Cullen to be CCO at ADNA

Matt Cullen, the founding partner and creative director of Arcade and former chief creative officer of Digitas, is joining ADNA as the fourth partner in the quantitative-data agency, alongside David Mayo, Henry Gomez and Cullen's his art director partner of 25 years, Gary Tranter.

He will be a chief creative officer and starts on August 17. 

ADNA is agile (offering 48-hour turnaround), affordable (a fraction of normal costs) and accurate (thanks to large audience sizes), Cullen, who was regional creative partner for Ogilvy & Mather earlier in his career, told Campaign Asia-Pacific. 

"We can turn an idea into something more viable in a couple of days and keep a pulse on our audience as we go," he said. "Brands and agencies don't have access to data like we do and we can do what research companies do faster and cheaper for budget-strapped marketers." 

ADNA was founded in 2017. It has an audience panel which spans more than 100 countries.

ADNA CEO Henry Gomez said, “having Matt aboard means that we can grow our business by bridging the gap between creativity and data to support big ideas.”

While quantitative data is prized by marketers, it is a costly investment for them to validate their creative ideas. Using its technology platform, Cullen says, ADNA can help smooth over fractious relationships between data and creative teams.

Currently, ADNA counts large brands such as McDonald's, Disney, Chanel, GSK and Toyota among its clients. However, the firm is looking to cast its net wider and also work with consultancies, agencies and governments.