INVNT Appoints James Nicholas Kinney as Inaugural Chief AI Officer

INVNT® has appointed James Nicholas Kinney as its first chief AI officer, marking a significant step in the agency’s continued investment in AI-powered brand storytelling. The newly minted role is focused on delivering advanced AI solutions for clients while expanding INVNT’s global AI ecosystem and strengthening its data, insights, and tooling infrastructure.

The appointment underscores INVNT’s acceleration of AI integration across the business, embedding intelligent systems across strategy, creative, production, and operations. By building internal data lakes and scalable AI capabilities, the agency is laying the foundation for the next era of experience-led brand engagement.

James will be responsible for leading client-facing AI innovation, helping global brands scale their experiences and campaigns through intelligent machine learning, and driving new business opportunities grounded in AI-powered transformation. He will report directly to Scott Cullather, chairman and chief growth officer of INVNT. 

Scott Cullather commented on the significance of the role, “Business transformation happens when you connect the dots across industries, technologies, and the experience ecosystem. INVNT has always been at the forefront of innovation-led brandstory™. Adding a global chief AI officer to our leadership team marks the next step in that evolution for our clients, our agency, and the industry at large. James is uniquely qualified for this role, one of the foremost minds in AI-enabled organisational design with a rare blend of HR leadership, agency experience, and advanced AI training. He understands how humans and machines can coexist to drive meaningful progress, from operational maximalism to predictive analytics and client-forward solutions. His leadership will accelerate INVNT’s future as the best-in-class experience agency enhanced by AI.”

Kristina McCoobery, CEO, INVNT, emphasised the agency’s long-standing commitment to innovation, “INVNT has always believed in building what comes next. From AI-powered product launches to immersive global experiences and campaigns, we’ve proven that storytelling and technology elevate each other in extraordinary ways. James will partner across all our divisions and regions, to strengthen INVNT’s AI operations, create greater efficiencies, and expand the agency’s data, tooling, and automation ecosystem leading our efforts to scale that vision across every corner of the business, touching every client experience, ultimately supercharging the creative solutions we develop for our clients.”

Over the last 17 years, INVNT has partnered with the world’s leading brands to merge bold creativity with state-of-the-art innovation, positioning the agency at the forefront of next-generation, AI-driven brand storytelling.

• Microsoft: INVNT partnered with Microsoft to introduce CoPilot to the world and designed Microsoft’s 50th Anniversary event, leveraging CoPilot throughout.

 • Oracle: INVNT developed the AI-powered creative and programmatic elements for Oracle AI World 2025 with over 60,000 attendees, featuring a keynote by Larry Ellison.

• Xero: INVNT engineered a proprietary AI Music Factory that generated full albums from simple voice commands.

• COP28: INVNT debuted the award-winning AI-powered Tree of Life installation in Dubai.

• ABB: INVNT developed “ABB-e“, a real-time interactive AI mascot using 3D animation that scaled across global events.

• Lamborghini: INVNT designed the AI-powered strategy and marketing campaign for the last naturally aspirated Lamborghini Aventador, paired with the world’s first 1:1 supercar NFT, designed in collaboration with Steve Aoki and Krista Kim, which auctioned at RM Sotheby’s for $1.6M

• Proprietary INVNT Technology: Developed patent-pending AI-powered next-generation XR learning and engagement experiences across Apple Vision Pro and other extended reality devices.

James Nicholas Kinney, global chief AI officer, shared his vision for the role, “INVNT is an innovation-led brand story agency full of high performers. We dream big and build boldly. My role is to bring AI into that ethos, to create greater impact for our clients and drive operational acceleration for our employees around the world. We will enable global cultural alignment with clear language, shared understanding, and unified execution.”