- Andrew McMains

NEW YORK Dallas-based agency Slingshot has hired Nicole Davis Granese to lead management of its Dave & Buster's creative account.

Dave & Buster's spent nearly $15 million in major measured media last year and more than $11 million in the first five months of 2008, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

Granese, former director of consumer insights and strategy at Haggar Clothing in Dallas, succeeds Beth Wuller as account director on the business. Wuller has shifted to leading the shop's Greyhound and la Madeleine accounts. Slingshot now has five account directors.

La Madeleine, a regional cafe, is among four accounts that the independent agency has added since January, according to a representative. The others are SourceDirect.com, Joe's Crab Shack and Hertz' NeverLost. Collectively, those clients are expected to spend about $20 million in major measured media next year.

Granese spent more than two years at Haggar. Before that, she was a brand manager at Samsung Telecommunications America in Dallas. Earlier in her career, Granese worked as an account planner, at both The Richards Group in Dallas and imc2 in Dallas. She started at Slingshot last week.

Other Slingshot clients include La Quinta, ConocoPhillips (online duties), Jack Daniel's (online duties) and Mission Foods. The agency's executive creative director is Peter Wood, a former senior creative at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, The Martin Agency and Ogilvy & Mather. He joined the agency in February.