Melody Lentsch, Carmichael Lynch’s new director of interactive, said she knows the agency has to work to erase perceptions that it is primarily a print shop.
“If I could categorize CL’s [interactive] efforts in the past, it was, ‘Dip your toe in when clients need you,'” she said. “[But] our existing clients are coming to us more and more with integrated campaign needs.”
With added interactive projects from American Standard, Porsche Cars and Ikea, Lentsch said she expects the Minneapolis shop’s interactive division to double in size this year and end up with about 17 staffers.
Lentsch took over the position as director of interactive last week, replacing Tom Gunderson, who last year was the first person to fill the post. Gunderson has left the agency to pursue other options, according to agency officials.
Lentsch “really understands the role interactive can play in forging strong consumer connections to brands,” said agency president John Colasanti.
Lentsch joined CL last September as an account director in the shop’s relationship marketing department. Prior to joining the agency, she worked for United Health Group and was director of marketing for Schwan’s Sales Enterprises.
She said her relationship and database marketing background gives her a “different twist” to approaching interactive marketing.
“I look at the Internet as a way to be profitable immediately from a customer relations standpoint,” she said, “rather than just being on the Internet to be there.”
CL Seeks Interactive Image Boost
