McCann Worldgroup executive creative director (ECD) Ioana Filip is leaving to launch her own creative agency called International Waters, ADWEEK has learned.
The exec has spent nearly 20 years at global advertising agencies such as McCann, MRM, and Energy BBDO, working as an ECD in markets including Chicago, London, and now her hometown of Bucharest, Romania.
“I’ve had incredible opportunities for growth within the networks which I was always grateful for, but I knew one day I would take the leap into entrepreneurship,” Filip told ADWEEK. “This moment felt right, not because of any specific circumstance, but because it was the right time for me.”
International Waters will target mid-sized clients with revenues between $20 million and $1 billion; Filip declined to disclose any current client relationships. The agency is headquartered in Bucharest with U.S. operations in Chicago and plans to expand to the middle east and other locations in Europe by 2027.
Filip and her leadership team of five, whom she declined to name, will split their time between the current office hubs.
Elevating talent in offshore markets
As a Romanian woman, Filip said she encountered discrimination early in her career for being young and foreign.
With International Waters, she wants to combat those stereotypes by focusing on traditional offshore creative markets like Romania and Brazil in order to challenge “outdated geographical bias that often stands in the way of creativity for global brands.”
“As I got into a global role, sometimes we would work with ‘offshore’ [markets] and they were amazing companies,” she said, citing Brazil, which was the third most awarded market at Cannes Lions in 2024, with 78 wins.
She continued: “Many of these creatives remain in their home countries. The notion that talent must relocate to thrive is outdated. There’s a lot of talent in these markets that don’t have access to big brands, but they’re brilliant. I want to give global business to global talent, and the other way around.”
To support this goal, International Waters will operate on what Filip describes as a “chartered creativity” model, where it will curate custom teams of creatives on a full-time and project-basis across different markets, depending on clients’ needs.
