Tuesday, September 29, 2015
- hasan & partners
Hasan & Partners named Jonas Backstrom as managing director of the Stockholm office. Most recently, Backstrom was chief digital officer at OmnicomMediaGroup Sweden, where he led McDonald's digital and mobile strategy. Prior to that he was global digital and PR director at Pernod Ricard, where he ran the global digital business for The Absolut Company. Backstrom began his career in marketing and advertising in 1998 when he joined Leo Burnett. After that, he moved to Paradiset DDB, Lowe Brindfors and Farfar. Hasan & Partners Stockholm opened in May, 2014 and services cruise operators Tallink and Silja Line, and Visit Estonia. - Droga5 New York
Droga5 added three senior creatives and three account leads to its New York headquarters. Don Shelford, Nick Klinkert and Justin Ebert joined the agency as group creative directors, while Blake Crosbie, Agnes Fischer and Melissa Nelson were named group account directors. Shelford joins Droga5 following a four-year stint at Wieden+Kennedy Portland, where he worked on Levi's, Nike and Target. Shelford will now be working on the Chase Consumer Bank, Mortgage and Automobile accounts. Klinkert worked on brands including NBA, FedEx and Johnnie Walker during his tenure at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, BBDO and BBH, respectively. At Droga5, Klinkert will work on Air Wick and LVMH. Ebert joins the agency after a year of freelancing. Prior to that, he worked at CP+B on Hulu, Microsoft and Best Buy. At Droga5, Ebert will lead creative on Motorola and NRG Energy. Crosbie leads the agency's Scion account, Fischer heads Chase's Consumer Bank, Mortgage and Automobile accounts and Nelson leads Droga5's Motorola and NBTY accounts. Lastly, Tara Lawall and Devon Hong were promoted to creative directors. - The Barbarian Group
The Barbarian Group has several new faces joining its executive team. JoRoan Lazaro is leaving R/GA to join as creative director. Meanwhile, Michael Tseng joins as the newly created senior designer to oversee visual and interaction design as well as creative concepting and mark-up. Tseng is rejoining The Barbarian Group after having worked with the company as a freelancer earlier in 2015 on projects such as Pepsi Pass and Kind. Lastly, Dave Kraftsow and Luis Santi have been hired as tech leads. The creative team, previously known as New Object, has worked with The Barbarian Group before, including developing the creative vision for Samsung's CenterStage. "There is a different breed of talent that's needed to work in a tech-centric company, including a passion for design and a deep understanding of a brand's needs and objectives, in addition to tech expertise," said Edu Pou, chief creative officer. "These four are highly passionate, ambitious and experienced individuals, and we're excited about what they'll bring to Barbarian as we continue to transform our business and bring on new clients." - Proximity Canada
Proximity Canada hired Joe Szabo as vice president of user experience, reporting to Mike Kasprow, executive creative director of Proximity Canada. In addition, Paul Hanlon is rejoining Proximity as director of digital strategy and content, reporting to Rosie Gentile, vice president, strategy and insights. "Putting UX inside our creative group is a new move, but one which puts UX in the middle of strategy, creative and technology," said Adrian Capobianco, president of Proximity Canada. "Joe is a great creative thinker who can come up with insightful ideas that thrive in a complex communications world. Paul Hanlon will help lead digital, social and content strategies leveraging our proprietary tools such as Content Darwinism. And having previously worked as a brand activation strategist for Proximity, he is familiar with our goal to make brands more valuable to people and people more valuable to brands." - CP+B LA
CP+B LA named Ivan Perez-Armendariz and Ryan Skubic as as co-managing directors. Perez-Armendariz previously served as chief digital officer and Skubic previously led account management. The duo will focus on CP+B's clients, employees, new business, culture, and overall management. They replace Mason Reed who is leaving the agency to join a new start-up. The move to have co-managing directors comes on the heels of Devin Reiter rejoining CP+B Boulder as co-managing director alongside Danielle Whalen. In both offices, organic growth and recent new business wins created the opportunity for an additional managing director. As chief digital officer for CP+B, Perez-Armendariz was responsible for overseeing CP+B's digital capabilities throughout their global offices. Skubic joined CP+B in 2003 as a contributor to the agency's work with MINI. Since then, he has led the agency's work for Charles Schwab, NBA2K, Microsoft Windows, Nike and Volkswagen. Over the course of his career, he has worked in each of the agency's three American offices in Miami, Boulder and Los Angeles. "To further the momentum in LA, our new managing director team puts account leadership and technology at the center of the agency," said Lori Senecal, global CEO, CP+B. "It's a great way to capitalize on the abundance of tech opportunities on the West coast and to continue to put focus on inspiring the smartest ideas that technology enables and that define CP+B." - Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles
Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles hired Kristen Hosack as music supervisor for the agency’s internal music department. - Project: WorldWide
Project: WorldWide, the global agency network that holds such entities as George P. Johnson, ARGONAUT and Shoptology, hired Ben Taylor as CEO APAC. Taylor was most recently president, Asia-Pacific for Jack Morton, working out of its Hong Kong office. - Meredith Digital
Nick Russo joined Meredith Digital as executive director of marketing; Lindsay Chipman as executive director of client services, account management and Corbin de Rubertis as vice president & general manager, Meredith shopper marketing. - Create Digital
Create Digital hired Larry Hoffheimer as vice president of client services, Chloe Bos as account supervisor and Kristen Duke as user experience architect. - RedPeg
RedPeg has hired Michael Stotsky to help in expanding its entertainment and CPG clientele. - Univision Communications
Univision Communications promoted Rosemary Mercedes to senior vice president, corporate communications. - Eastwick
Eastwick promoted Heather Kernahan to president, up from executive vice president and general manager. - Discovery Communications
Discovery Communications hired Paul Guyardo as chief commercial officer. - Goji
Goji hired Brett Kaufman as vice president of acquisition marketing and JT Benton as chief revenue officer. - GlassView
GlassView hired Jo Ben-Atar as executive director of sales. - Humble
Humble signed director Gerard de Thame for commercial representation in the U.S. and Canada. - Guidemark Health
Vic Zambrotta has been named president of Guidemark Health. - Button
Button hired Justin Thomas as vice president of partnerships. - NBCUniversal
NBCUniversal named Cesar Conde to the newly created position of chairman, NBCUniversal International Group and NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises. - Hawthorne Strategy Group
Hawthorne Strategy Group, appointed Cynthia McCafferty, former FleishmanHillard senior vice president and senior partner, as president. - REVOLT Media & TV
REVOLT Media & TV hired Derek Ferguson as chief operating officer. - Whistle Sports Network
Whistle Sports Network hired Klaas Homan as director of partnerships in Europe, Middle East and Asia. - Thrillist Media Group
Thrillist Media Group hired Tom Varbero as regional vice president, advertising sales & solutions, responsible for overseeing the growth of the east coast sales team. - Healthgrades
Healthgrades hired Keith Nyhouse as chief marketing officer and Mayur Gupta as senior vice president of digital. - Technicolor
Technicolor expanded the company's animation and games division with the appointment of Sean Mullen as creative director and David Kern as games technical director. - Hornall Anderson
Hornall Anderson hired Rahmin Eslami as vice president of design. - Yoga Journal
Melissa Strome was promoted to publisher of Yoga Journal, where she will lead sales and marketing operations for the brand. She was formerly east coast advertising director. - Martini Media
Martini Media hired Vincent Krsulich as senior vice president of sales. - The WorkShop
The WorkShop promoted Tom Farrell to CEO and executive producer. - Univision Communications
Univision Communications named Derek Bond as senior vice president, production strategy. - The Petrizzo Group
The Petrizzo Group hired Kirk Fordham as senior vice president. - Offerpop
Offerpop tapped Amir Shub as chief product officer. - Open Road Integrated Media
Paul Slavin was named president of Open Road Integrated Media. - Fjord
Fjord hired Thomas Muller as regional design director for Europe. - Verto Analytics
Verto Analytics hired Dr. Matti Aksela, PhD as senior vice president of technology; Tom Butler as senior vice president of sales, eastern U.S.; and John McLaren as vice president of sales, Western U.S. - Generator Media + Analytics
Generator Media + Analytics hired Andrew Antaki as associate director, communications strategy; Mike Stewart as associate director, SEM; and Tory Hogsett as SEM manager.
