iris Leitung und Teammitglieder

Ian Millner is the Chief Executive of Iris Worldwide and a founding partner of the agency. Back in 1999, Ian Millner, along with Stewart Shanley set up Iris with the idea becoming a real alternative to the large and traditional advertising led global networks. Fourteen years later Iris has started to emerge as the leading independent agency network with around 1000 people all over the world around including; London, Singapore, Sydney, Melbourne Delhi, Shanghai, New York, Miami, Mexico City, Atlanta and Amsterdam. Iris works with global clients such as Sony, Adidas, Shell, MINI, Unilever, Heineken, VW and Philips across an increasingly diverse range of disciplines such as; branding, CRM, PR, advertising, digital, retail, experiential, branded content, sponsorship, sales promotion, management consulting and research. Before setting up Iris, Ian Millner held the role of New Business Director at IMP (now called Arc), one of the UK’s leading below-the-line agencies. As New Business Director, Ian Millner played a fundamental role in the agency’s growth by securing several high profile new business wins, including Philips, Procter & Gamble, Fiat, Orange and Virgin Direct. Today, Ian Millner continues to lead the charge at Iris HQ in London and is the Chairman of the Marketing Agencies

Recently ranked in Business Insider’s Top 20 Most Creative People in Advertising, Shaun leads iris’s global creative output. He has been richly awarded across every discipline – his current tally exceed 180 trophies. His recent international work includes brands as diverse as Guinness, adidas, Jeep and MINI.

As one of the founding partners of iris, I'm incredibly thankful for the experience of working with such amazingly talented and inspirational people to build a successful and sustainable business that's truly run in the interests of its people and its clients. I'm also incredibly excited to have co-founded 9toLife, a dynamic start up that's like a daily dose of corporate berocca, helping businesses and employees win through tailored, inclusive and accountable vitality at work programmes. Doing work that makes a difference, always learning about people and myself and feeling like I'm a valuable and valued part of something exciting, special, meaningful. That's what puts a spring in my step on a Monday morning.

Mike brings 15+ years experience to iris, with career nods including the iconic brand launch of Toyota Prius and the pivotal brand revival of Volvo. He hails most recently from Grey NY, where he was Global Planning Director on Volvo, contributing to the marketing initiatives that led to a Grand Prix at Cannes, and a major shift in the brand’s market success. At iris, Mike works across the New York, Atlanta, Chicago and Sao Paulo offices, overseeing the strategy and planning teams and leveraging the agency’s experiential, digital, CRM, social and content expertise across all client business.

Prior to Grey, Mike was VP, Strategic Planning Director at Innocean on Hyundai and See’s Candies. He has also held strategy and new business roles at The Garage Team Mazda/WPP and Saatchi & Saatchi LA. 

Big (and scary) challenges are the thing that make me tick. My first was being employee number one for Iris. Out of the six founding partners, I was the first to resign from our previous employer and get the company set up. The others said they knew at that point they had to follow through once I’d taken the leap, because this thing was actually going to happen. As if there should have been any doubt! This desire to leap in and tackle big goals has framed my choices since. Seven years leading new business across the network taught me a lot about how to get others committed to a goal and the satisfaction that comes from a winning performance. These skills are invaluable in my new role as CEO of our London HQ. We have 400 talented people who think, create and make the most incredible creative solutions for clients. My job is simply to make sure there’s nothing standing in their way. Keeping a sense of perspective is vital for us all. Mine comes running up and down mountains for as long as I’m able. There’s nothing more humbling, literally or metaphorically, than reaching the top and realising how small we really are.

I lead teams of talented individuals to help brands and consumers to connect with each other in a mutually beneficial way. Brands have massive power as cultural assets and through inventing and re-inventing themselves in collaboration with their consumers, they can play a really meaningful role in peoples lives and justifiably command a disproportionately high share of the market. Here at iris, we call it Participation Branding. In 2007 I moved to the U.S. to join what would become iris Worldwide's first international office in New York, tasked with helping to grow a multi-client agency ripe to compete with others in the market. Since then we have expanded our network to across the Americas and have had the pleasure of working with a wonderful group of clients over the years in Coty, Philips, Yahoo, Diageo, Barclaycard and Reckitt Benckiser, to name a few. I've also got a bit of a 'bee in my bonnet' about the fact that brands can (and should) use their power for social good more often. To me, all brands should be able to invest in socially positive marketing or product initiatives in a way that drives both society and their business forward at the same time.

-Graduated in Advertising at ESPM (Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing) and later in business at FGV (Fundação Getúlio Vargas); -Worked for 6 years as client in companies such as Citibank, Kimberly Clark and Microsoft; -Founded Router in 2006, migrating to the agency side and for over 7 years has led and planned online and offline campaigns for brands such as Nokia, Bacardi, Grey Goose, Sony, PlayStation, Natura, Itubaína Retrô, Água Schin, Cornetto and Neve. -Strong sense of leadership combined with learnings acquired from different markets; -Engaged recently in business development across Latin America for the Agency and its recent Mobile spin-off; -Currently taking an MBA at the Berlin School of Creative Leadership (http://berlin-school.com); -In december 2013 agency iris (global creative innovation network http://www.iris-worldwide.com/) acquired Router and Daniel remains as managing partner for iris router Brazil.