Ned McNeilage

Ned McNeilage is Chief Creative Officer at Sphere Entertainment, which runs the giant spherical venue in Las Vegas. In this role, McNeilage oversees Sphere’s in-house creative design studio and brand teams and is responsible for content running on the Exosphere, the giant LED exterior, as part of the Sphere venue that opened in September 2023.

Previously, McNeilage served as Chief Creative Officer at global creative company VML, working on campaigns for Microsoft, IBM and Google. Prior to that, he had the same title at BBH LA, where he ran a hybrid department meshing core creatives, entertainment specialists and creative technologists for clients such as Samsung, American Express and Activision.

As Group Creative Director for Apple Services at Media Arts Lab, Los Angeles, McNeilage worked on the launch of Apple TV+ and projects for Apple Music. He spent eight years as Executive Creative Director at Creative Artists Agency where he developed award-winning entertainment and experiences for General Motors, (RED), Starbucks, Revlon/Mitchum, Virgin Australia, Microsoft Bing, Diageo brands and others.

McNeilage began his professional journey as a creative director and writer at Wieden & Kennedy in Portland and Amsterdam, creating campaigns for Nike, ESPN, Miller Brewing, Vodafone and Coca-Cola. He has freelanced for 25 agencies around the world including 180, Publicis, TBWA Chiat Day, 72andsunny. His brand work has been awarded at Cannes, One Show, D&AD, AWARD, and he has spoken at Real Screen International, Le Book, Young Guns, Emergence Festival and others.

As a director/producer, McNeilage's short films “Showfolk” and “American Dreams” have won a string of major prizes from Tribeca to Palm Springs to Madrid.