San Francisco agency Heat is adding an office in New York, its first expansion since being acquired by Deloitte Digital in late February.
For now the New York outpost, which launches in June, will be run out of the agency’s San Francisco headquarters; a permanent location for the New York office will be announced later this year. To lead the new office, the agency is bringing on industry veteran Tim Maleeny as general manager and chief strategy officer and tasking him with injecting the agency’s culture into the Manhattan ad world.
Maleeny joins the agency from Havas New York, where he has served as managing partner and CSO for the past three years. Prior to joining Havas, he spent over three and a half years at Ogilvy & Mather as head of strategic planning. Before that he spent eight years as director of strategy for Puclicis & Hal Riney, following four as senior vice president, group account director with Hal Riney & Partners, during which time he worked with Heat’s principals, John Elder, Steve Stone and Mike Barrett.
“We have to bring our culture to New York as best we can but use a truly New York City-centric approach,” Barrett, who serves as Heat’s managing director, told Adweek. “I think the difference is the San Francisco ad environment feels like a more collaborative partnership which I think New York clients will like.”
“With West Coast agencies, it’s about creative first and it’s very idea driven. New York is more process oriented,” added Maleeny.
“You could argue the last thing this industry needs is another new ad agency,” he said. “What it is yearning for is a new kind of agency.”
“As we go into New York, it’s not just Heat—it’s Heat plus Deloitte Digital,” added Elder,who serves as president of Heat.