Ari Weiss, a trailblazing creative force in the advertising industry renowned for his imaginative, innovative, and daring ideas over a 25-year career, passed away Friday after a long battle with cancer at the age of 46.
Born and raised in Berkeley, California, Weiss embarked on his career in the late 1990s as a copywriting intern at Goodby Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco. His early promise led him to work at notable agencies including Cliff Freeman and Partners, BBDO, Wieden+Kennedy, and 180LA, before returning to GS&P.
In 2011, he joined BBH New York, where he quickly ascended to the role of Chief Creative Officer. After six years at BBH, he spent seven transformative years at DDB, serving first as North American CCO and then as global CCO. During his tenure at DDB, Weiss played a pivotal role in earning the agency its first Network of the Year award at the 2023 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity—a historic achievement in the firm’s 74-year history.
In early 2024, driven by a desire to reengage directly with creative work and embrace entrepreneurship, Weiss founded Quality Experience (QX), a boutique creative agency founded on the principle that every brand-consumer interaction should generate mutual value. At QX, he brought on board leading industry executives, including Cristina Reina, Colleen Leddy, and Dan Gonda, to help shape the agency’s vision. QX’s debut projects featured compelling campaigns for brands like Shutterfly and Tonal.
Over the course of his illustrious career, Weiss was celebrated for his groundbreaking campaigns for major brands such as Skittles, Starburst, Twix, Miller Lite, Coors Light, McDonald’s, and Volkswagen. Among his most audacious achievements was the “Broadway the Rainbow” campaign for Skittles in 2019. For this project, he persuaded the brand to forego a traditional Super Bowl commercial in favor of staging a one-night-only branded musical at New York’s Town Hall. The production, starring Michael C. Hall, embraced self-referential humor with memorable musical numbers like “Advertising Ruins Everything.”
Ari Weiss is survived by his devoted wife, Dara, and their children, Layla, Luca, and Lev. He is also mourned by his parents, Marylin and Abe; his sister, Lara; his brothers, Adam and Ilan; and his sisters-in-law, Ellen and Alicyn.
A reel featuring the “Broadway the Rainbow” campaign is available below, with plans to update it with additional highlights of Weiss’s pioneering work in advertising. His legacy as a creative visionary and his groundbreaking contributions to the industry will be remembered and celebrated for years to come.