Stagwell (STGW) shares trade at $8.77, up 0.46%, as Instrument brings back Jack De Caluwé as Chief Creative Officer. Stagwell is a publicly traded marketing and communications network that operates a portfolio of agencies across creative, media, research, and digital transformation, and Instrument is one of its digital-focused businesses. The appointment gives the Stagwell company a senior creative leader spanning brand, product, campaigns, digital experiences, and emerging technology. De Caluwé returns after nearly nine years at Instrument earlier in his career, arriving with additional global agency experience to lead the agency's next growth phase.

Instrument Adds Experienced Creative Leadership

De Caluwé joins Instrument from R/GA, where he most recently served as Executive Creative Director. R/GA is a long-established global agency known for pairing brand creative with design and technology work, a profile consistent with Instrument's own mix of creative and technology services. In the new role, he will work with Instrument's executive team to shape creative direction and strengthen the agency's client relationships, while also mentoring talent and raising creative standards across the organization and its growing range of services.

His career includes creative leadership work for Nike, Apple, The New York Times, Patagonia, Netflix, Stripe, Dropbox, and Uber. He has also worked with Google, Electronic Arts, Notion, and ServiceNow across different markets and creative disciplines, and his international experience spans Australia, Europe, and the United States. The blend of consumer brands and enterprise technology clients mirrors Instrument's own roster, which spans both categories.

De Caluwé previously spent nearly nine years at Instrument, where he helped shape the agency's creative culture. During that period, he contributed to major programs for Electronic Arts, Google, Notion, and ServiceNow, covering brand systems, international campaigns, product experiences, and emerging technology.

De Caluwé Brings Global Brand Experience

At Electronic Arts, De Caluwé helped develop a flexible brand platform designed for changing technology and audience needs. His work with Google expanded the brand across products, campaigns, and digital experiences, while his Notion work supported the company's first international brand campaign across North America, Europe, and Asia.

His ServiceNow work focused on an identity and design system for the company's agentic artificial intelligence strategy, an area centered on AI systems built to carry out tasks with limited step-by-step direction, and the effort helped create a consistent visual approach across products, partners, and platforms. Enterprise design systems of this kind have become a growing area of agency work as software companies bring AI agents to market. His broader portfolio has also earned recognition from the Webby Awards, CLIO Awards, and The One Show.

Instrument has operated for more than 20 years across creativity, technology, brands, products, and digital experiences. The company uses technology and artificial intelligence to simplify complex challenges and accelerate creative development, and it works with major brands including Google, Nike, Electronic Arts, ServiceNow, Uber, and ŌURA.

Instrument Builds Its Senior Creative Team

The leadership move follows additional changes across Instrument's senior creative organization during 2026. The agency recently added Terence Hobson as Group Executive Creative Director for its Brand Studio. Hobson joined from EA SPORTS, bringing further experience across entertainment, sports, and brand development.

Instrument also appointed Yan Sze Li as Group Executive Creative Director for its Product Studio. Li joined from M·A·C Cosmetics and adds experience across product design and consumer-focused creative work. Together, the appointments expand leadership across Instrument's brand and product operations, giving the agency senior creative leadership dedicated to each of its two core service lines.

Instrument received the Design Studio of the Year award at the 2026 Campaign US Agency of the Year Awards, recognition that underscores the agency's continued focus on creative performance and technology-driven work. With De Caluwé returning, Instrument now combines an established internal relationship with broader international creative experience.

The appointment strengthens one of Stagwell's digital transformation businesses through expanded creative leadership. Instrument, which joined Stagwell in 2021, operates within the Code and Theory Network, which forms part of Stagwell's digital transformation network of digital-first agencies. The move aligns creative leadership with growing demand for brand, product, technology, and digital experience services, an area where Stagwell has concentrated its positioning as a challenger to larger legacy advertising holding companies.