BarkleyOKRP Names Brad Jones Chief Creative Officer

Brad Jones’ career has led him from Australia to New York and now to Kansas City. Jones has been named Missouri-headquartered BarkleyOKRP‘s first chief creative officer since last year’s merger.

Jones joins the agency from Mojo Supermarket in New York, where he served as executive creative director and led campaigns for brands including Rivian, Facebook and Pinterest. He succeeds Katy Hornaday, who was promoted from chief creative officer to CEO earlier this year. This news was first reported by Ad Age.

Jones told Ad Age that much of his career — both in the U.S. and in his native Australia — has been at independent agencies, mostly small to midsize shops. While he had long wanted to work at a larger agency, he didn’t want to join a holding company, citing his advocacy for independents.

“When this opportunity came up, I was like, this is something that is perfectly suited for me — to take everything that I’ve learned over the past 17 years and apply it on a much larger scale and setting, and see what kind of impact I can make,” Jones said.

Jones is moving from New York to Kansas City, Missouri, where BarkleyOKRP is headquartered. He will oversee the agency’s creative, design, production, PR and digital content studio Fuel — more than 200 people across offices in Kansas City, Chicago, New York, Austin and Denver. He reports directly to Hornaday and will work with Sean Corcoran, president of MissionOne Media, to strengthen the connection between creative and media.

Hornaday said she was immediately drawn to Jones’ portfolio, calling it one of the most fun she had ever reviewed, with a range of different mediums and creative approaches. 

“My biggest takeaway was an immediate sense that he would be an incredible partner — and that he’ll be fully in charge of the creative,” Hornaday said to Ad Age of Jones. “It was a really fun conversation about where the industry is going and what we could do. That energy exchange, on top of incredible creativity, is exactly what we were after.”

Jones said he’s excited to collaborate closely with BarkleyOKRP’s media and strategy teams on integrated campaign development.

“For the first time in my career, I’m going to be sitting next to our media team,” he said. “As a creative, you never really get to see a media plan until it’s finalized. Having media built in is going to be a superpower for us. Strategy, creative and media working on a project from the jump is a huge value to clients.”

Jones said he looks forward to tapping into BarkleyOKRP’s tech resources and talent, as well as working with a roster that includes AMC, Burger King, Metro by T-Mobile, Motel 6, Planet Fitness and Smoothie King.

After two years of assembling its new structure — merging Barkley and OKRP, acquiring Adlucent and expanding MissionOne Media — Hornaday said 2026 will be the year the agency maximizes what those efforts can achieve.

“It’s going to be an amazing year ahead, and now we have an amazing new CCO,” she said, as reported by campaign.

Jones added: “Now, let’s go to market. Let’s land some big work, get some wins on the board and maximize everything that we’ve built.”

Be sure to check back here at SCREEN Magazine for the latest news from the advertising community between the coasts. You can also click right here to subscribe to our weekly email newsletter.