• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, February 9, 2016

Chicago-based The Escape Pod has announced Mark Andeer, the marketing guy behind Kmart's "Ship My Pants" and "Show Your Joe" and OfficeMax's "ElfYourself," is joining the agency as CMO. Rather than a typical CMO position, the agency is tweaking the role a bit to include creative development duties for Andeer.  

Cue the collective groan of all The Escape Pod creatives. 

Of the hire, The Escape Pod Managing Director Norm Bilow said, "We've worked with Mark in various capacities over the years and have always been equally impressed by his business savvy and his creative capabilities. Mark is that rare talent that can chart marketing strategy and also deliver award-winning creative." 

Andeer's new role is said to blend traditionally separate business and creative functions, The Escape Pod Creative Director Vinny Warren explained, saying, "When you hire business talent that also has Cannes Lions awards, you include that person in the creative process. We're already a pretty versatile management team and Mark will push our strengths and capabilities that much further." 

Andeer will oversee the marketing of the agency's brand, lead new business efforts, support client account teams and participate in creative campaign development.  

Of the new role, Andeer said, "The Escape Pod already earns client praise for delivering fresh creative that drives real business results. I'm excited to be part of the broader process." 

Andeer was most recently interim CMO and VP of creative with Kmart and was previously with OfficeMax where he held the vice-president of brands strategy role. Prior to his corporate roles, Andeer held leadership roles in advertising agencies BBDO in Minneapolis and Lowe in New York. Andeer has earned numerous awards and accolades, including Best of Retail Gold Effie, Cannes Lions, One Show, Graphis, World Retail Awards and Best of Show at RAC.  

His ElfYourself campaign is included in the Forbes top 10 viral websites ever created. Andeer has a BFA in graphic design from College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan and attended post-graduate at Miami Ad School.