Publicis Sapient, the digital business transformation hub of Publicis Groupe, has announced the appointment of John Maeda (right, feature image) as chief experience officer.

The selection of Maeda, one of the world’s creative leaders of computational design – the convergence of design and technology – signals Publicis Sapient’s ongoing commitment to pushing the boundaries of how businesses create exponential value for their customers and markets.

Publicis Sapient CEO Nigel Vaz (left, feature image) said: “John Maeda is one of the most extraordinary design and technology thinkers of our age, with an exceptional pedigree as a leader helping companies to push the boundaries of creativity and innovation to reimagine their business and industry.”

Maeda joins the creative executive collective of Publicis Groupe.

Publicis Groupe chief creative officer Nick Law said: “Publicis Groupe is one of the only companies in the world that can connect the full customer journey through creativity – where story meets experience as the bridge to technology, all powered by data.

“With his expertise and leadership in connecting design and technology to create more powerful products, services, and experiences, John adds incredible strength to our ability to create meaningful experiences for customers.”

Maeda’s role as chief experience officer forges an engineering and design partnership at the highest level, unconventionally decoupling experience from the traditional creative lead, and instead pairing it with the EVP of Engineering.

This action draws on the strength of Publicis Sapient’s history of tightly synergistic technology and experience, and signals a deeply technologically grounded future where creativity is fully integrated.

Vaz added: “We have always believed that the brand is the experience and the experience is the brand and, within Publicis Sapient, spent nearly three decades utilizing the disruptive power of technology and design to help digitally enable our clients’ business in their pursuit of next.

“By fusing strategy and consulting, experience and engineering with an enduring culture of problem-solving creativity, we are able to partner with our clients to both identify and unlock how they create value for their customers and markets.”

Along with spearheading design globally Maeda will spend time on people, bringing his commitment to inclusion and talent development to the table – vital components to unlocking real value for clients.

Publicis Group CSO Carla Serrano said: “Our clients have long been seeing a need for technology and media to work hand-in-hand without losing or degrading the creative product. Maeda’s history of fostering inclusive thinking as the key to excellence in creativity is exactly in line with the strategic pillars for Publicis Groupe in our talent and culture development.

Maeda added: “When a technology becomes commoditized, the quality of experience becomes the key differentiating factor.

“But you can’t have a great experience without being paired with great technology. Publicis Sapient brings to its clients full-stack engineering capabilities blended with its rich history at the forefront of creativity technologies — stretching back to the 90s back when I first knew about them in my MIT days.

“Aspiring to empower established businesses at all scales to realize great experiences for their customers to push back on Big Tech is in line with where my heart is right now. I’m looking forward to the impact we can make and excited to join this great, multi-disciplinary team.”

Maeda joins Publicis Sapient from Automattic, where he served as the global head of computational design + Inclusion.

Prior to Automattic, Maeda held the roles of design partner at Kleiner Perkins and design advisory board chair of eBay, Inc.

Before that, he was a tenured research professor at the MIT Media Laboratory and 16th President of the Rhode Island School of Design.