The Squid Games and Ted Lasso track suit costumes should be roaming your streets and parties this weekend, mixed in with some vampires, ghosts and somebody trying to pass themselves off as Mark “Meta” Zuckerberg, no doubt. Regardless of how you Hallow, the revolving door keeps spinning.
This week’s roundup features plenty of not-so-scary agency moves, new hires, client wins and other assorted agency-related treats.
Abelson Taylor
Health and wellness advertising agency AbelsonTaylor has promoted Beth Carik to senior vice president of human resources. She will lead all HR functions within the agency, including recruitment, onboarding, learning and development, compensation and benefits, performance management and employee relations.
AntiSocial Solutions
AntiSocial Solutions, a Thinkingbox Company, has hired Jennifer Chiang as its first ever influencer director. In this new role, Chiang will be responsible for rolling out AntiSocial Solutions’ new influencer marketing department, which will include developing the strategy for the offering, overseeing the department’s new business development plan, staffing and client management.
Chiang previously served as CEO of global influencer marketing platform MuseFind, where she built and led the team in the development of technology products that generated over 100 million impressions from influencer campaigns for Fortune 500 to 50 clients.
Applied Design
NYC-based design agency Applied Design has promoted Elliott Scott to creative director and will help oversee four new design hires. The agency has also expanded its West Coast presence, appointing Katherine Pereira as managing director.
Applied Design has also been awarded brand design AOR for Westfield United States.
Butter Music and Sound
Butter Music and Sound has launched Butter Trailers, a new studio dedicated to furthering its expansion into the trailer market sector, operating out of their Los Angeles location. Led by Butter creative director Max Schad, Butter Trailers will provide original music for film trailers, broadcast promos, game trailers.
Cheil New York
Cheil North America announced that Mitchell Yoo, previously chief client and global growth officer of iCrossing, has been named CEO of Cheil New York and head of global media services. Yoo will be based in Cheil North America’s regional headquarters and assumes the role of CEO for the local New York account and brand teams. In addition, in his capacity as head of global media services, he will spearhead Cheil North America and Cheil Europe’s media capabilities, as well as Cheil Worldwide’s, establishing a new organizational and operational standard.
Previously, Yoo served as global director of Wunderman New York, where he managed the global Dell SMB relationship.
Convicts
Convicts, a digital media brand and purpose-driven creative studio, has made three new hires including Ivan Salazar as creative director, Sandie Cheng as head of social and Dylan Roley as account director.
Salazar brings over two decades of experience at top brands and agencies including Starch Creative and Supra Footwear. Prior to this he was the brand director at Straye Footwear, which he also co-founded.
Cheng will help Convicts deliver meaningful content across digital channels. She will be responsible for strategizing and executing digital marketing campaigns, as well as overseeing internal and client social media content across various platforms. She was formerly senior media planner at Finn Partners.
Roley was previously global client partner at Saatchi & Saatchi.
Crosby Marketing
Florence Lochrane and Jennifer Forester have joined Crosby Marketing Communications, expanding its team of social media professionals. Lochrane will serve as a social media supervisor, managing Crosby’s social media and content marketing activities for Military OneSource. Most recently, she served as communications manager for Enviva Biomass. Prior to that, she managed the communication outreach and digital diplomacy campaigns for the Embassy of Switzerland in Washington, D.C.
As a social media manager, Forester will support Crosby’s social media content creation, community management and listening programs for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She joins Crosby from Children’s Inn at NIH.
DNA
Seattle agency DNA is re-asserting its independence and elevating its leadership team. Alan Brown, co-founder and CEO, and Chris Witherspoon, president and chief growth officer, have purchased the majority of shares from co-founder and chairman Dan Gross. Gross will retain a stake in the company and continue to serve on its board.
As part of the move, Witherspoon will transition to CEO, with Brown taking on the role of chairman. Subsequently, DNA is now a minority-owned and led agency.
Doner
Doner Partners Network (DPN) has named Ben Grossman chief strategy officer, partner agencies. In this newly created role, he will utilize Stagwell’s proprietary technology and data capabilities, arming clients with data, consumer insight and strategic counsel.
Grossman previously served as svp, group strategy director at FCB NY, where he led strategy for top accounts including Google, Anheuser-Busch InBev and Subway.
Droga5
Droga5 has appointed Peter Montgomery, who has worked with the agency as a freelance executive producer since 2016, as head of production. He replaces Chris Watling, who leaves the agency at the end of October. Previously, Montgomery worked with 72andSunny in Amsterdam.
Elevate
Elevate has appointed Mike Anderson as director of training and development, primarily for its Trailblazer Academy. Elevate, a division of SmithGeiger focused on helping regional companies and broadcasters accelerate revenue efforts, founded The Trailblazer Academy as a revenue acceleration program focused on helping sales teams identify, qualify, and approach high-value prospects. In 2020, over a hundred sellers graduated from the program.
Anderson joins Elevate from Cox Media Group, where he spent six years as the director of consumer insights and analytics, and then director of sales enablement for the company’s collection of radio and television stations.
Garden
Independent Canadian agency The Garden has promoted associate creative directors Lindsay Eady and Francheska Galloway-Davis to creative director. Eady and Galloway-Davis have been with The Garden for nearly four years and three years respectively.
Havas
Havas Media Group Canada has hired Alessia Grosso as vp strategy and Scott Nelson in the newly created role of vp, investment and partnerships. Grosso will lead HMG’s strategy department developing unique solutions in existing and emerging platforms, while Nelson ensures a digital-first buying strategy across the agency’s client roster.
Grosso joins Havas Media from Enthusiast Gaming, where she led North American marketing operations. Prior to that, she served as director of strategy at Cossette Media. Nelson led the digital investment practice at Dentsu for the past three years.
John McNeil Studio
Creative and strategic brand firm John McNeil Studio (JMS) has expanded its leadership team with the addition of executive director, social Snow Burns and executive producer Lauren Holmes.
Burns is a former member of JMS, who returns after a career spent navigating between the worlds of tech and marketing. She ran social media and content strategy for MyNewPlace.com and later led global social content strategy for CA Technologies. She was also head of marketing at Mountain Hardwear.
Holmes began her career at London’s TBWA/Media Arts Lab. She later joined commercial production company Nice Shirt Films and Stinkfilms, and also served as director of sales at Final Cut in Los Angeles.
Luckie
Birmingham independent agency Luckie has hired Zachary Carpenter as director of strategy. Carpenter will work across the agency to provide market insights, lead marketing workshops and explore new opportunities for brands.
Carpenter is joining Luckie from Phoenix-based StateServ, where he worked as head of marketing. Prior to that he served as a deputy communications director, a chief marketing officer and an agency partner where he built award-winning brand experiences for clients such as MGM Resorts, Samsung, Netflix, BMW and Adidas.
Maverick Group
Dan Plotkin has joined The Maverick Group as creative director to work alongside Neame Ingram. The pair first teamed-up at Table 19. Dan previously held the role of creative director at Stack/MSQ.
Mediassociates
Media planning, buying and analytics agency Mediassociates has been retained by CompoSecure to guide the marketing launch of Arculus. Arculus is a “cold storage” device, which combines an app for cryptocurrency with a security key in the shape of a credit card, providing three-factor authentication security in a slim form that does not require a battery.
Mirriad
Mirriad, an in-content advertising company, has hired Martin Moor as vice president and head of music and brand partnerships and James Goodhall as head of music sales EMEA. Moor and Goodhall join Mirriad following the 2020 launch of Mirriad’s Music Alliance, a coalition dedicated to merging the marketing and music industries.
Moor began his career at Penalty Records and served as the label’s first director of artists and repertoire (A&R). Moor also led teams at Sony Music Entertainment. Goodhall ran UK sales at Amato Distribution, then went on to work in A&R roles at Sony Music UK and Universal Music. He then worked in commercial positions at EMI Music UK and Warner Music UK.
Music City Studios
Music City Studios, a media campus in North America blending multiple creative industries, announced plans to break ground in the Metro Nashville area. Located in Hendersonville, Music City Studios is a 47-plus acre creative campus dedicated to the future of content, production, film, live touring, broadcast, virtual production, and technical and business support for Metaverse-based businesses. The anchor tenant and partner in Music City Studios is Monolith Studios.
NetSfere
NetSfere, a global provider of next-generation secure and compliant messaging and mobility solutions, launched its new omnichannel portal, NetSfere Omnichannel, created for developers to build and integrate multi-channel capabilities for their enterprise applications to orchestrate customer communication and engagement at global scale.
Party Land
Independent agency Party Land is expanding with the appointment of two creative directors. Matt Rogers and Natalia Fredericks bring diverse backgrounds and a collaborative approach.
Rogers boomerangs back to Party Land from MullenLowe L.A., where he was creative director on Axe, Hawaiian Airlines, and Patron. He was a founding member of Party Land in 2017.
Fredericks comes over from R/GA, where she was associate creative director. She also worked at The Richards Group and The Marketing Arm.
Public Label
Creative marketing agency Public Label Canada has been named strategic and creative agency partner for Autism Canada. Scope of work includes developing a new brand narrative and redesigning the Autism Canada website. New work for Autism Canada will be unveiled in 2022.
Quirk Creative
Independent agency Quirk Creative has launched the Quirk-Key internship program for aspiring advertising and commercial production professionals. As paid production assistants, Quirk-Key participants will gain valuable experience.
Quirk Creative worked with diversity and inclusion consultant/talent advocate Keni Thacker to bring the program to life. More information and applications can be found here.
Sway Group
Sway Group, an influencer marketing and branded content agency, has signed four six-figure deals in the third quarter. New assignments span evenly between agency and brand-direct, including programs for Vision Service Plan (VSP), Shaklee Nutrition Company, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), a large, regional healthcare company and a well-known tech giant.
Troup
After groundbreaking work for Bruno Mars’ SelvaRey rum, nonprofit National Runaway Safeline, NoMad hotel’s website and Velocity Cycling, agency Troup is officially making its debut.
Troup was founded by David Whaite and Matt Dimmer, who each have a formal education in graphic design. Dimmer has worked in advertising for 20 years and has had jobs at several agencies, including mcgarrybowen, JWT, Vitro and Red Tettemer. He transitioned to art direction early in his career and oversees all advertising and strategic work as chief creative officer. Whaite has been in the industry for 15 years and has had stints at Vitro, JWT, Campbell Ewald and in-house at Netflix. He’s chief design officer, overseeing all digital and branding work.
Zulu Alpha Kilo
Independent shop Zulu Alpha Kilo and client Pfaff Harley-Davidson took home the top prize at the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) Multicultural Excellence Awards for their “Tough Turban” protective innovation for Sikh motorcyclists. The ANA event celebrates the year’s best multicultural advertising campaigns. It’s the first time that a Canadian agency has won the Best of Show since the event was launched in 2001.