• by Larissa Faw , April 18, 2016

Mindshare is promoting Joe Maceda to head of the agency’s Invention Studio for North America. He remains based in New York.

The Invention Studio is a unit within Mindshare dedicated to "driving innovation in media by merging data, science, and creative." Today, the NA Invention Studio works with clients including American Express, Kimberly-Clark, TGI Fridays, and Unilever.

Maceda was a cofounder of the Studio in late 2013, working under Cindy Gustafson, who was recently promoted to chief strategy officer for the U.S. Maceda continues reporting to her in his new role. 

Following the U.S. launch, the Studio opened up similar offices in six other countries, including Dubai, Australia and London. 

Now, in his new role, Maceda will be in charge of the NA unit and collaborate with his counterparts in other markets. He will oversee the six NA employees that are wholly dedicated to the Studio, as well as manage staffers across different client teams that have been trained in the group’s methods and techniques. 

According to the agency, the Invention Studio units are important because they aren't just think tanks; rather, they guide Mindshare teams through specially designed workshops to teach them tools and techniques employees use to infuse their media plans with creativity and risk-taking.  

"My number one priority is to continue generating new ideas that use media to inject our clients' brands into culture and to be adaptive as it changes," says Maceda (a MediaPost Media Rising Star in 2006). "A big part of that is facilitating a spirit of imagination across the agency, by providing the tools and resources to get at great media ideas very quickly and at scale.”

Maceda added that he also wants to increase the role that data plays in ideas: “If an idea isn't grounded firmly in data, it isn't a good idea. We want [to ensure] that all media ideas begin with data-driven insight and deliver data-proven results.”