Don’t call it a trend, but another prominent journalist has joined the agency world one day after we learned that former AdAge editor/publisher Abbey Klaassen would become 360i’s new chief marketing officer.
Teressa Iezzi, who is also a veteran of the AdAge organization, will now lead PR and publishing for Wieden+Kennedy New York. You may remember her from her work at Fast Company or the period during which she ran AdAge’s Creativity; your agency’s PR almost certainly pitched campaigns her way at some point between 2007 and today.
In 2011, Iezzi left Creativity after seven years to join Fast Company, where she became senior digital editor and ran the Co.Create property. As you may know, part of her job there involved finding and showcasing the best new campaigns and creative work from “the worlds of advertising, entertainment and technology.”
In the newly-created role at W+K, Iezzi will “bring an editorial eye to finding great brand stories that can be told across a range of platforms,” shining a light on Wieden’s work in new ways. The release claims that her appointment is in keeping with a larger trend in which agencies turn toward “an ongoing content creation model.”
W+K New York managing director Neal Arthur writes:
“We’ve been interested for some time in expanding the role of agency PR, to really make it more of a core content creation function. So, someone who brings the audience-first ethic of a journalist, plus the experience to conceive and execute a wide variety of content at the speed of news, is a valuable addition right now.”
Iezzi herself talks of bringing content and creative closer together:
“When content thinking is brought as close as possible to the brief–to the business problem or opportunity–rather than being bolted on later, that’s when the magic happens. W+K NY is ahead of the curve in recognizing this, and recognizing the value of an editor in brand communications.”
Global ECD Collen DeCourcy calls the hire “a natural extension of W+K creativity, which is all about connecting brands to people through great experiences and meaningful content that’s as good as anything else on an audience’s radar.”
Luckily, we are fairly sure that Iezzi will not have to respond to our endless requests for comment on hirings, firings and account changes.