Christmas ads are in heavy rotation already, so even if you find tinsel distracting, you have no choice but to get in the mood for the holidays. Why not warm up to the season by reading about the latest agency new hires, promotions, client wins and product launches? While there’s no direct correlation between the revolving door and contentment with the holidays, it really couldn’t hurt, especially if you peruse the list below with a steamy mug of cocoa.
AbelsonTaylor
AbelsonTaylor has promoted former associate account directors Ashley Hughes and Caroline Wolf to account director.
Adams & Knight
Marketing agency Adams & Knight won the top three honors and 40 additional awards at the 66th annual Advertising Club of Connecticut Awards.
Alloy
Digital strategy agency Alloy has hired Dr. Rose Smith as director of strategy. In the role, Dr. Smith will lead all of Alloy’s strategy efforts.
Assembly
Assembly, a new post-production studio, has launched with a roster of seasoned professionals, set out to redefine the post-production experience.
Founded by Art Williams, Oliver Hicks and Colin Moneymaker, the shop features a suite of capabilities includes visual effects, color grading, offline editing and dailies. Key hires include colorists Lez Rudge (previously of Chimney) and Sean Dunckley (previously of Light Iron). They are joined by VFX supervisor John McIntosh (previously of The Mill).
Bernstein-Rein
Advertising agency Bernstein-Rein (BR) welcomed a new client partner to its company roster. Regional discount furniture brand, Weekends Only Furniture & Mattress, appointed BR its advertising and marketing Agency of Record (AOR), without a review. The decision comes after BR and Weekends Only collaborated on numerous projects over the past six-months. The partnership will be led out of the agency’s Kansas City headquarters and work will begin immediately.
Cactus
Denver agency Cactus has been selected as the agency of record for the North Carolina Education Lottery. As the lead creative agency, Cactus will focus on integrated strategy, creative development and production for campaigns utilizing traditional broadcast, digital, social media and point-of-sale.
Circus Maximus
Branding and creative agency Circus Maximus has hired Alberto Quintero as executive creative director and Meghan Cermack as director of account services. The hires coincide with the promotion of Ashley Richardson-George to chief content officer and partner.
Quintero joins as Circus Maximus’ first executive creative director, arriving from in-house creative director roles at brands including Bandier, Capezio and Equinox. Cermack comes from an agency background at Muh-Tay-Zik | Hof-Fer and Hill Holliday.
Richardson-George joined Circus Maximus in 2018 as director of content strategy. In her new role she will own the content strategy, oversee brand definition and coordinate with the creative team to create relevant content for the agency’s clients.
Circus Maximus also elevated Carey Kight to executive producer and added Michael Mendieta as creative director, Danielle Costa as content manager and Jack Lee as creative content producer to its team in New York.
Collab
Collab, Inc., a tech-powered entertainment company driving the creator economy and short form video, has named former ErosSTX head of content finance Carolyn Steinmetz as chief financial officer. In the newly created position, Steinmetz will lead Collab’s financial strategy with the broader executive team, advising on short- and long-term business planning.
DNA
Marketing and agency vet Mishy Cass is returning to the advertising agency side, joining DNA as creative director. She was most recently at REI as a group creative director, helping build its internal agency and expanding its “#OptOutside” brand campaign. Over the course of her career, Mishy has worked at such agencies as WONGDOODY, Razorfish, Publicis and others where she created such legendary campaigns as the launch of Amazon’s Fire Stick with Gary Busey.
Essence
Anthony Reeves will be joining Essence as president, global client partner, working with clients to further integrate the agency’s practice areas of data, analytics, media strategy and creative. He will lead engagement across a small portfolio of Essence’s global clients.
Reeves comes to Essence after serving as managing partner at Courageous, consulting with Amazon, J&J, Hasbro and other Fortune 200 companies across strategy, brand, creative and platform activation. Prior to his recent consulting work, Reeves was chief creative officer at Wunderman Thompson Seattle.
Finn Partners
Global independent marketing and communications firm Finn Partners has acquired Hawkins International PR, a 26-person bi-coastal, boutique luxury travel and hospitality PR agency with offices in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Jennifer Hawkins, founder and CEO of Hawkins International PR, will join Finn as managing partner, luxury travel and become part of the agency’s global travel practice leadership team. The Hawkins team will transition to the Finn brand name over time.
As part of the deal, Finn also acquires Maverick Creative, Hawkins International’s 10-person affiliate agency specializing in creative communications for travel and lifestyle clients. Maverick will retain its current branding and operations will continue under managing director Catherine Colford, while expanding to the UK.
Finn Partners has also been chosen to lead communications efforts for Bolthouse Farms. The Many was chosen by Bolthouse to lead its marketing efforts.
Fuseideas
Strategic advertising and marketing agency Fuseideas has added Michelle Starin as new business and account director and Michael Walsh as associate account manager at its Boston office. Joining the Buffalo office is Sierra Kenney as event coordinator.
Starin previously worked at Wieden+Kennedy, Starcom, Universal McCann and McCann-Erickson.
GS&F
Advertising and public relations agency, GS&F has hired Brent Barbour as account director, account management; Adam Vacek as account supervisor, account management; Allison Landy as account director, account management; and Josh Shearon as senior art director. It has also promoted Sav McBride to account director, public relations.
Havas
International Airlines Group (IAG) has awarded Havas Media Group its global AOR assignment across its flagship brands: Iberia, Vueling, Level and IAG Cargo. Havas won the business after passing a marketing services review. From March 2022, Havas Media Group will be the partner of the four IAG brands.
Human Design
Human Design has launched a documentary unit, Human Entertainment. The move follows Human’s recent creation of two short-form documentaries, Feral and Brushstroke.
InKlout
As the creator economy continues to expand, inKlout has launched as a turnkey incubator for influencers who want to develop and market signature product lines and expand their personal brands. Leveraging the network of Advantage Solutions’ marketing agencies, inKlout brings expertise in product sourcing and supply chain dynamics, branding, packaging, digital marketing, ecommerce, media and retail marketing to the influencer community.
Jack Morton
Global brand experience agency Jack Morton has appointed Martyn Clarkson as the agency’s first-ever evp, global head of strategy. In this newly created role, Clarkson will be responsible for driving the agency’s strategic vision as well as evaluating its products and processes across the network.
Prior to joining Jack Morton, Clarkson was svp, head of strategy for George P. Johnson. He also served as vp, strategic planning at Momentum Worldwide, and as svp, strategy and account planning at Leo Burnett.
Jam3
Design and experience agency Jam3 has doubled its size since December and added over 70 new team members since January. New business wins include Pepsi, TikTok, Sonos and Zalando.
Duane King has been hired as executive creative director, and will focus on the West Coast business. Andrew Osborn and Pascal Rotteveel have been hired as creative directors; Steffen Christiansen and Dirk van Ginkel have been promoted to executive creative directors; Pedro Barroso and Steven Mengin have been promoted to associate creative directors.
Marcus Thomas
Cincinnati-based chili parlor Gold Star has tapped full-service agency Marcus Thomas to lead its brand repositioning and new campaign. The essence of the rebrand revolves around acceptance, inclusivity, authenticity and being unapologetically Gold Star. To honor the history of the brand being founded by four immigrant brothers and the current CEO being one of the brother’s sons, Marcus Thomas created a manifesto that encapsulates the feeling of pride that the brothers had in their recipe.
Mason
Agency Mason has promoted Derek Beere to vice president and director. Beere will play an increasing role in the recruitment and management of agency clients, including new business development, strategic planning, campaign design and program implementation.
Beere, who joined the agency in 2002, will continue in his previous roles as director of public relations and managing the agency’s social media practice.
Media Matters Worldwide
Media Matters Worldwide (MMWW), an independent media agency, was named media agency of record for Glassdoor, a leader on insights about jobs and companies. The women-owned and women-led agency will be responsible for Glassdoor’s omnichannel strategy, communications planning, analytics and data visualization.
Mojo Supermarket
Mojo Supermarket has added Tasha Cronin as head of production, Autumn Maison as dean; and Hannah Benabdallah as head of communications.
After four years of building and guiding the in-house creative team at Spotify, Maison joins Mojo Supermarket as dean, where she’ll work toward creating and guiding a new team at the agency.
Cronin will lead the growth of the production department. Prior to Mojo, she spent nearly seven years with Droga5, overseeing a team of interactive and experiential producers and spearheading innovation. She also spent time at Google, Cole & Weber, as well as independent film studio Samuel Goldwyn Films.
Benabdallah will work alongside the leadership team to help shape and tell the Mojo Supermarket story. Prior to Mojo, Benabdallah served as global communications director at Vice Media Group.
Movement Strategy
Social media agency Movement Strategy has added Kimmy Shoval as head of influencer Marketing. Shoval will help the agency strengthen its offering amid shifting industry and audience expectations.
Shoval was formerly a vice president, group manager of influencer marketing and strategy at Ketchum, where she helped establish their influencer team. Before that, she was responsible for business and client development for Izea, a platform that connects influencers with brands for partnerships.
Padilla
Shift Communications is joining Padilla as one of its operating brands, bringing the combined agency to about $55 million in revenue and 240 employees across seven U.S. offices.
Paley Center for Media
The Paley Center for Media, a nonprofit dedicated to celebrating the cultural, creative, and social significance of media and its impact on society, announced four new members to its board of trustees: Jim Lanzone, CEO of Yahoo Inc.; Marne Levine, chief business officer of Meta; Paulo Marinho, executive director of networks at Grupo Globo; and Adam Silver, commissioner of the National Basketball Association.
The four new Trustees will be working alongside the existing members of the board in providing counsel to the Paley Center as it continues its 2021 programming and begins work on initiatives for 2022.
Percent
Percent, a capital markets platform, announced Jessica Zall as its new managing director and head of marketing. She will focus on building and continuously optimizing the company’s overall marketing and brand strategy.
Performance Art
Key hires include technology strategist Kirk Linkletter from Innocean; media and social specialist Adam Ferraro from Ogilvy; and Marian Schaly, a specialist in full-funnel brand communications who was most recently with Wunderman.
Other new hires include: Andrea Ignas as director of resource management; Sayan Datta as senior manager of analytics; Kaivalya Kashyap as solutions consultant; Arnaud Icard as group director, product and technology solutions; Kun Zhang, senior analyst; Arsalan Akhtar, strategist; Arun Gulati, campaign manager; Ada Tat, project manager; Cian Corrigan, project manager; Julia Hojsan, project management; Kaivalya Kashyap, solutions consultant; Sarah Maloney, program manager; Celane Chan, program manager; Justin Emanoilidis, HR manager; Muslima Mazhar, project manager; Kayla Kanszorra, resource coordinator; Linda Nguyen, account executive; Miranda Weekes, client accounting coordinator; Ron Vendrov, account executive; Gunel Sadigova, junior strategist; Rahul Saklani, project manager; Manoj Katari, email marketing specialist; Jessica Noonan, administrative assistant; Courtney Darke, account executive; Wendy Nie, finance analyst.
In addition, Veterans United, joined by its agency of record, Performance Art New York, sought to reflect the critical role Veterans play in strengthening civic health, from volunteering and charitable giving to voting and community engagement. In honor of Veterans Day, Veterans United gave away 11 homes to veterans. The campaign celebrates Veterans’ legacy of service and how our communities are better #ThanksToVeterans.
Publicis
Publicis Health has appointed industry veteran Ravit Ansal as the healthcare communications network’s first chief digital platforms officer. In this newly created role, Ansal is responsible for driving growth for the clients of Publicis Health’s 11 agencies.
Prior to joining Epsilon, Ansal was part of Accenture, where he was responsible for the inception and growth of the consultancy’s global content strategy practice.
Richards Group
Fiber optic company MetroNet has named the Richards Group as its new brand advertising agency. The Richards Group will be responsible for overall creative advertising strategy, digital and social strategy, and all media planning and buying. The agency also is tasked with refreshing the brand’s entire look and feel.
Shutterstock
Shutterstock has promoted Meghan Schoen to chief product officer (CPO), tasked with spearheading the development and execution of Shutterstock’s product vision. She will focus on strengthening the company’s portfolio of content, services, application and data business lines, and help the team to bring to market new products.
Smyle
Creative agency Smyle has bolstered its leadership team with three senior management promotions and the appointment of a new group chair.
Head of creative Emma Gardner becomes executive design director, while head of people experience Charlotte Key has been made people experience director and client development director. James Howitt also joins the group with the same the job title.
Spark Foundry
Spark Foundry has bolstered its leadership team with the appointment of Katharine Baker as its new chief client officer. Baker, who previously worked for Blue 449, is returning to the industry and Publicis Media, following a two-year career break.
In this new role, Baker will be responsible for developing client relationships to deliver maximum value and growth for clients.
Sway Group
Sway Group, an influencer marketing and branded content agency, has appointed Rebecca Camhi as director of client services, a new role focused on delivering value with extraordinary client service. She will also oversee Sway Group’s recent launch of its new college athlete recruitment efforts. Camhi was most recently vice president at United Entertainment Group (UEG).
The& Partnership
The&Partnership has named veteran strategist Tony Lederer as chief strategy officer, New York. Lederer will oversee brand, creative and data strategy for The&Partnership’s New York clients. He joins from Grey New York where he served as executive strategy director, developing brand platforms for clients including Gillette, Walgreens, the NFL, Applebees, MassMutual, YouTube and Bose.
Prior to Grey, Lederer was at Cohn and Wolfe, New York, and before that at Bite in London.
Wake the Bear
Marketing communications agency Wake the Bear has appointed Lydia Mulkeen as its first managing director. Mulkeen was previously client partner and part of the management team at independent media agency the7stars.
Wieden+Kennedy
Wieden+Kennedy has hired Orlee Tatarka as head of production for the independent network’s Portland office. In this role, Tatarka will lead W+K’s multidisciplinary production capabilities across integrated production, W+K Studios, and Joint. It’s the first time one leader will be responsible for the full remit of W+K Portland’s production capabilities, championing teams navigating all types of production and bringing creative ideas to life.
This marks a return to W+K for Tatarka, who spent nine years at Wieden+Kennedy New York working on brands including Bud Light, Ford, Sprite, Nike, Jordan Brand, ESPN, Spotify and Southern Comfort. Prior to this new appointment at W+K Portland, Tatarka was director of integrated production and a senior partner at Carmichael Lynch.
World Famous
Creative agency World Famous has hired Rachel Carlson as partner/executive creative director. Carlson came to World Famous from Mekanism, where she was creative director. While there, she created a spot featuring the first lactating breast seen on network TV for personal breast-care brand Frida Mom, which aired during the Golden Globes.
Carlson worked for several years as a freelance creative director/copywriter and full time at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Doner LA, and Deutsch LA.
Worldwide Partners
Worldwide Partners, a global network of independent agencies, has added eight new agency partners. These new partners expand WPI to 75 independent agencies in 43 countries and add significantly to its capabilities in Asia, Europe, U.K. and U.S.
The new partners are: Consciously, a marketing consultancy based in Brooklyn, New York; Mach Media, based in Ghent, Belgium; Pluto, based in Dublin, Ireland; We the People, based in Melbourne, Australia; Lippe Taylor, based in New York City; Twelvenote, part of the Lippe Taylor group; Sound Healthcare, based in Bridgewater, N.J.; and HCB Health, with offices Austin, Texas and Parsippany, New Jersey.