Omnicom Group has named Marita Scarfi CEO of digital agency Organic, formalizing her role at the shop, which she's led for nearly two years.
Scarfi (pictured), an Organic employee since 1996, has served as chief operating officer. She's led the agency -- originally in partnership with chairman Jonathan Nelson and chief development officer Chuck Russo -- since Mark Kingdon left in May 2008 to become CEO of Second Life. Nelson became CEO of Omnicom Digital and Russo departed for the post of chief experience officer at Corbett Accel Healthcare Group.
She's navigated San Francisco-based Organic through rocky waters, during times of significant challenges to the firm's two biggest clients: Bank of America and Chrysler. Organic lost the Chrysler business [1], which it held since 1999, to SapientNitro in February. The shop has diversified by adding work from Kimberly-Clark and, according to sources, is poised to add the Hilton account. Organic declined to comment on new business.
Scarfi said Organic would look to differentiate in the market with its predictive analytic capabilities. The market is starting to rebound, she said, after a rough patch.
"We have some big opportunities in our pipeline right now," she said. "We've had to recalibrate a little with Chrysler, but we're still in a very solid position for this year."
Organic has 500 employees, including contractors.
See also:
"Their So-Called Life" (a recent guest column by Marita Scarfi on the teen girl demographic) [2]