Tuesday, September 7, 2004
GM Planworks, the Starcom MediaVest Group agency dedicated to strategic media planning on behalf of General Motors Corp., has hired MASON FRANKLIN as a senior vice president/strategic research director. Franklin joins Planworks from GM-dedicated advertising agency Chemistri where he served as senior vice president/account planning director.
KRISTEN BUCKLEY has been named vice president of programming for Nickelodeon. Promoted from director of programming, Buckley is responsible for managing and maximizing Nickelodeon's on-air inventory. She develops strategic promotional and media plans in support of the network's initiatives and its ancillary businesses. Additionally, she develops client-driven programming and promotional stunts with the marketing and ad sales departments and builds on-air events that increase ratings.
MPG has launched an in-house, branded entertainment unit, MPG Entertainment.RICHARD LINNETT and HANK KIM have been named directors and will lead the division. Linnett and Kim join the agency from Advertising Age.
AIMEE REKER has joined Zentropy Partners' Minneapolis office as vice president and director of interactive marketing. Reker will lead the media department in developing fully integrated online contact strategies and be involved in all media strategy development, planning, buying, and implementation. Prior to joining Zentropy, Reker worked for Euro RSCG Circle, Boston, where she launched their media practice and developed marketing solutions for a variety of Fortune 500 clients including Verizon, ING, MINI Cooper, IKEA, Ocean Spray, and Talbots, among others.
Bennett Kuhn Varner, a full service, direct-response advertising agency, has added several new members to its staff including: KELLY MARTIN, assistant media buyer; CHRISTY OWENS, senior account executive; VALERIE PANNELL, interactive media manager; CHAD POLIKOV, interactive media planner; MICHELLE SCRUGGS, senior interactive media planner; and PAM WALKER, broadcast media supervisor.
TV Guide magazine has named IAN BIRCH as its new editor in chief. Over the last four years he has been editorial director of two UK celebrity and entertainment focused weekly magazines: EMAP's heat and its sister title Closer.
Midwest Living magazine has named ANDREA STEVENSON Detroit manager and JENNIE KOFOED as account manager, Los Angeles. Stevenson joins Midwest Living from the Fairchild Bridal Group in Chicago where she worked on Bride’s, Modern Bride, Your Prom, Brides.com, and ModernBride.com. Kofoed joins the magazine from TV Guide where she worked on accounts in the automotive, packaged goods, retail, and entertainment industries for the previous six years.
Web marketing and technology firm DigitalGrit has announced that AIMEE KESSLER EVANS, formerly of MarketingSherpa, has signed on as marketing manager. Kessler Evans worked at MarketingSherpa where she served as director of marketing and public relations. She was also on staff at PFS Marketwyse, Phillips Group InfoTech, and George Street Playhouse.
Meredith Corporation named RICHARD BERENSON director of corporate sales and marketing for Meredith magazines. Most recently, he served as the publisher of This Old House Ventures, where his responsibilities included advertising sales and cross-media efforts for the brand. Prior to joining the publishing industry, Berenson served for several years as an assistant media director at Margeotes Fertitta & Weiss.
HENRY SPIERER has been promoted to business editor after serving as senior producer at NYTimes.com. As editor, he will manage the business, your money, autos, real estate, jobs and the upcoming and redesigned personal technology sections.
icrossing, a search engine marketing firm, announced that ROD LENNIGER has joined the company as senior vice president of operations. Lenniger was formerly the president of Stoner-Roland, an interim management and consulting services firm. He will be responsible for all operations functions including natural search optimization, paid search, and search business analytics.
WorldPictureNetwork, which offers high-quality imagery to the news media and advertising clients, has appointed STEPHEN CLAYPOLE as its CEO. Claypole is a former head of newsgathering at BBC News and was the start-up managing director of Associated Press Television News (APTN) in l994.
AMP Agency has promoted JOHN COSTELLO to vice president of sponsorship and event sales. Costello will be charged with strategic development of sponsorship properties and driving sales across all of AMP properties. Prior to his new role, he served as senior account director, cultivating marketing relationships with accounts such as Panasonic, mtvU and K'NEX Industries.
ALVORD R. REESE has joined Pivot + Levy, a design, advertising, and interactive agency located in Seattle, as director of business development. Reese will be responsible for revenue growth and building new client relationships. Prior to joining Pivot + Levy, Reese spent a number of years helping large brands with wireless marketing strategies.
STORMWEST has named SARAH ANDERSON as online media coordinator for Stormwest's Interactive advertising division. Anderson will be responsible for online editorial content, newsletter sponsorship, and high-profile media placement for large-scale online sales lead generation.
Captiva Marketing, a St. Louis-based search engine marketing firm, has added BETH MCLAUGHLIN as account manager.
MELISSA TRIMBLE, business development manager for Digital Brewing Company in San Francisco, has been named director of sales and marketing. She will manage the sales organization.
CARLTON ROBERTS has joined the MaxMedia Design staff as vice president of media development. Roberts is developing partnerships with traditional advertising and media marketing companies. Prior to joining MaxMedia Design, Roberts worked for 10 years in the New York market where he directed sales and marketing for Cowles New Media division and worked on the corporate staff of EMAP USA to launch FHM magazine and “NFL Insider.”
The Los Angeles Times named PATRICIA VARGA as its senior team leader for new business development. Varga and her group will develop new content-based products, along with strategic partnerships for the Times. Varga began her career at The LA Times when it was owned by Times Mirror and returns after nearly 20 years of magazine publishing experience.
Blattner Brunner's integrated eMarketing services brand, bbdigital, recently hired VICTORRIA WYTCHERLEY as senior interactive account executive. Wytcherley joins Blattner Brunner from Bensur Advertising, where she served as account supervisor. She will be responsible for projects for Del Monte, GlaxoSmithKline and SEI Investments.
Sawyer Riley Compton has promoted RICH FABRITIUS to vice president and account director. In his new role, Fabritius is responsible for managing account teams and for leading strategic campaign development to hands-on concept creation efforts for clients.
GLENDA GUEVARA departs Interep's (SBS) McGaver Guilds division as a national sales assistant and joins Anderson Advertising as an account coordinator. She will be handling Anderson's automotive accounts for the U.S. Hispanic Market.
Charlex, a 3D, animation and effects studio for film and television, has named ADAM ISIDORE as vice president and executive producer. He moves from BBDO New York where he held the same title. At BBDO, Isidore served as executive producer in charge of production for the Cingular Wireless account.
