The Dentsu full-service media agency iProspect promoted two long-time employees to lead and integrate its media planning and strategy practices in the U.S.
iProspect elevated Michelle Snodgrass, a Dentsu employee for 18 years, to evp, head of strategy from her previous role as an svp overseeing the category.
It also promoted former svp Rachel Starr, at Dentsu since 2008, to evp, head of planning. Starr served on iProspect’s Hilton business prior to the promotion and will remain on the account in her new role.
“IProspect has a legacy for delivering unmatched performance-driven results,” said iProspect CEO Danielle Gonzales in a statement. “Expanding our strategy and planning disciplines across the organization enables us to accelerate brand growth and strategically deliver full funnel media results across the consumer journey, ensuring every dollar is contributing to big outcomes for our clients.”
Gonzales became CEO last fall, following iProspect’s January 2021 merger with its former sister agency Vizeum. Combining the two agencies under the iProspect brand bolstered its offering with expertise in both brand and performance marketing.
Now the agency wants to become even more integrated by tapping Snodgrass and Starr to bring their respective disciplines together. The duo will develop workflow and processes employees can depend on.
Each have a holistic understanding of both brand and performance marketing, having working in various practices throughout their careers. Snodgrass came to iProspect from Vizeum and began her career on the planning side before pivoting to strategy approximately nine years ago. Starr worked in activation before becoming a planner and said the integrated agency’s new holistic approach is a complement to her professional background.
“What’s really nice about the news with both Michelle and I being elevated into these roles is that planning and strategy are very interconnected,” said Starr, adding that she will “ensure that there’s that unified thread in terms of the planning process that really speaks to our overall philosophy as an agency.”
IProspect thinks of planning and strategy as two separate practices that feed each other. Strategy is “the why, and the what we’re trying to do,” said Snodgrass. Strategists identify a brand’s business challenges and the cultural barriers and drivers surrounding that. Then, they determine how the agency impact those business drivers. Planners, on the other hand, decide how the brand can bring the strategic vision to life across channels.
Both Snodgrass and Starr, in their elevated positions, are working closely together to keep processes interconnected and have already implemented changes at iProspect.
“There’s so much opportunity and upside for both the teams and the clients that we work with to really see the combination of these two roles,” said Starr.