BBH USA has hired two leaders from independent creative agency Fig to strengthen its Black Sheep agency brand and better blend its strategy practice with the might of Publicis’ data arm Epsilon PeopleCloud.
Samantha Deevy joins as BBH USA’s chief strategy officer, and Lindsey McNabb Hover is now the 25-year-old shop’s first CMO. Fig—the shop former TBWA chief creative officer Mark Figliulo founded and later rebranded—has grown steadily behind its proprietary StoryData tool, which was one of the industry’s first tools to use AI to analyze creative.
McNabb Hover led Fig’s new business operations and is credited for her work closing deals with clients like Campari, Tyson and Viator. Deevy, known as a media-savvy creative with a grasp on audience insights, led Fig’s strategy practice.
The two report to Agnes Fischer, president of BBH USA, who wants to keep building on the agency’s momentum with the new hires. The Publicis agency recently won AOR work for Duracell, and it has launched new campaigns for the likes of Meow Mix, Milk-Bone, J.M. Smucker and Samsung.
Hiring two leaders from the same agency turned out to be helpful for the duo, and it’s streamlined their BBH on-boarding.
“The unique thing about this leadership team is that we all know each other,” McNabb Hover said. “We’re not finding our sea legs for the first six-to-12 months of this new partnership. We are able to literally hit the ground running on day one, and we’re already finishing each other’s sentences.”
A strategy lead with media chops
In a strategy lead, Fischer sought a visionary leader—one willing to take on client work when needed.
Having held roles at Droga5, Omnicom Media Group agency PHD and another Publicis agency, Digitas, Deevy’s skillset spans media and creative practices. Her former clients include HBO’s Game of Thrones, Kraft, The New York Times, SC Johnson and Cover Girl.
The strategist’s media background resonated with Fischer. For one, BBH utilizes Publicis’ data arm Epsilon PeopleCloud to inform its creative work. In order to convince its clients to take more creative risks, Fischer thinks Deevy is capable of encouraging marketers to make those leaps, armed with data and insights that support their effectiveness.