Whalar Adds 3 New Execs, Including Jamie Gutfreund as Global CMO

Whalar is undergoing some serious growth. The creator commerce company, which manages talent and launches influencer marketing campaigns with its own proprietary technology, just added three new executives. Marco Bertozzi is the president of Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), Jamie Gutfreund is the global CMO, and Gazmend Alushi is the president of measurement and analytics. "Having been on the brand side and the agency side, I saw this as the future," Gutfreund, who previously served as chief experience officer for Hasbro and CMO for MGA Entertainment, told Adweek. "I’ve seen the evolution of marketing for 20-plus years, and this is the most exciting space that has emerged." These new hires are part of Whalar's push for a diverse and internationally based senior team as it expands into new markets, brands itself as a hub for both influencer marketing and SaaS, and grows its talent pool. Whalar's client roster includes Nike, Apple and Mac Cosmetics, and the agency is an official marketing partner of Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. “We have unique ambitions to continue to grow significantly and be a leading force in the creator economy," said Whalar global CEO Rob Horler in a statement. "To do that, we need to hire smart, and bringing on expertise in measurement, marketing and sales allows us to deliver on our must-see creative capabilities." Democratizing creativity In 2021, Whalar made 155 new hires and saw 382% year-over-year revenue growth, a testament to the accelerating creator economy. Bertozzi, Gutfreund and Alushi are energized by co-founder Neil Waller’s belief that “creativity has shifted from being controlled by the few to being available to the many.” “If you’ve got a story to tell, and it’s something you can communicate effectively, you’ve got a career and a voice,” Gutfreund said. "Brands now have the ability to access that at scale." https://twitter.com/whalar/status/1443268549644939264?s=20&t=-xUet9QWuj0DbakFsCBB2Q Bertozzi, who previously worked as the vp of sales EMEA at Spotify, is looking forward to bringing creators into the center of his work. "It’s going to be less about a marketing channel, and the creator economy will just turn into the economy," said Bertozzi. "That’s something for brands to really take note of and get involved in." Promising personalization at scale Alushi joined Whalar from Snap Inc, where he led the global measurement product research and development team. According to Alushi, the industry is at a tipping point when it comes to “metrics that matter.” He remembers that the marketing world once believed that forced views on ads were the future, but Whalar represents an opportunity to drive engagement among consumers on content they genuinely enjoy. “There’s this interesting opportunity to demonstrate that this creator commerce platform can actually build meaningful connections across niche audiences,” he said. “You can have that nuance between one-to-one personalization and mass scale.” Gutfreund also emphasized the role of influencer marketing in crafting a favorable consumer experience—while she remembers that the industry has long promised widespread personalization, it has “never really developed in a way that worked.” “This is the delivery of that promise, which is a human-centered, creative approach at scale,” she said. “We’ve gone back to something that is fundamentally very sound but emotionally very powerful.” Nano-Influencers, Viral Trends and Superfans: Marketers Explain the New Face of UGC