This week, newly launched agency Newhouse announced the hire of Jason Blake as its first chief marketing officer.
Blake joins the New York- and Los Angeles-based shop after spending one year as vice president of IPG experiential agency Jack Morton.
The independent venture says it will apply a “story first” approach to clients focused in the entertainment industry. As of its launch this fall, that roster includes the 20th Century Fox Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody and upcoming X-Men property Dark Phoenix along with Lionsgate Pictures, Aviron Pictures, The History Channel, Columbia Records, and Flagship Brewing Company (you know, for balance), among others.
Newhouse describes itself as the “brainchild” of one Rob Nuell, former Miramax creative director who co-founded Deep Focus along with Ian Schafer and later went on to launch Mammoth Advertising of Brooklyn.
Nuell personally chose Newhouse’s top executives, including chief creative officer Erik Blair, formerly of the History Channel, head of strategy and social Patrick Sammon, who held the same position at Mammoth, and PR director Tasya Swisko, another Mammoth veteran.
“Jason will be driving the agency’s growth and establishing strategic client partnerships across multiple industries,” said Nuell, who hyped the team’s “collective experience in entertainment.”
According to the press release, the executive “brought together partners from the PR, social, strategy, and creative worlds under the mission of finding new ways to tell brand stories ‘by any medium necessary.'” Newhouse plans to open new offices in London and Portland, Maine by the end of 2019.