• by Wayne Friedman , March 4, 2009

Aegis's big U.S. media agency Carat--which has experienced some recent troubling periods--has created a new senior-level marketing position for the agency.

Former Yahoo executive Steven Feuling will get the title of executive vice president/chief client development officer of Carat, responsible for all marketing efforts and strategic initiatives. He will report to Carat President Martin Cass.

Most recently, he had been vice president of demand strategy and category development officer at Yahoo. Before that, Feuling had been senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Kmart/Bluelight.com.

Feuling also has had media agency experience as president and chief consumer officer/chief marketing officer for Starcom USA. Earlier in his career, he held senior marketing roles at companies including Clorox and Walt Disney.

Feuling's hire is part of a massive restructuring for Aegis Group's Carat unit that began late last year. It stemmed from big account losses and weak new business performance.

Also last year, the agency suffered from a major PR snafu, in which a memo noting a new round of layoffs of its entire workforce was inadvertently distributed to a wider audience. The memo was intended only for senior managers.

Other recent Carat appointments include those in research arenas: Mike Hess, as executive vice president of research, marketing science and insights, and Theresa LaMontagne, senior vice president of data analytics and insights.