G2 Elevates Paulson

NEW YORK G2 Worldwide has named John Paulson, head of its digital arm, as its new CEO in the U.S. Paulson, 39, had served as president of G2 Interactive. He is the first to hold the U.S. CEO position, reporting to G2 global chairman and CEO Joe Celia. The agency was formed in July 2006 to serve as an umbrella group for Grey's direct, interactive, promotional, in-store, data and design practices. The new role is meant to foster a greater emphasis on taking a multi-disciplinary approach at the WPP Group agency, Paulson said, though the units will remain separate. "The major impetus is that with platform convergence and ability to communicate with people wherever they are, whether in a retail, in front of their PC or through an e-mail blast, there seems to be less of a siloed approach on the part of our clients," he said. "They're looking for opportunities to connect the dots within their marketing mix." Paulson's purview covers 10 G2 offices and 650 employees. G2 has also brought on Wendy Lurrie to replace Larry Kimmel as president of G2 Direct and Digital. She comes to G2 from DraftFCB, where she was chief marketing and strategy officer. Lurrie previously served as general manager of its New York office. Kimmel is shifting to a G2 headquarters role to "work with the management team on global network development," the company said. A G2 representative said his title and parameters of his job have not been finalized beyond that description. Tom Conti, formerly head of G2 Digital's Philadelphia office, is assuming Paulson's role, running both the Philadelphia and New York offices. Paulson said a major focus of his would be communicating to clients the opportunities to better integrate their marketing activities regardless of channel. The challenge, he said, is the same facing agencies: clients frequently have structures that keep marketing disciplines separate. "Client organizations were staffed that way so you may have the person doing digital who has no relationship with the person doing direct who has no relationship with the person doing in-store," he said. That's a shared challenge. The lines we drew in the past are starting to disintegrate." Prior to joining G2 Interactive as president in 2006, Paulson was an account director at DDB Worldwide. His previous agency work includes stops at M&C Saatchi, JWT, Grey and MVBMS.

Performance Marketing

G2 Elevates Paulson

Brian Morrissey

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Brian Morrissey