There’s plenty to celebrate this weekend after dozens of new hires and promotions took place this week at agencies around the world.

62Above

62Above welcomed Stephanie Giner as public relations account supervisor. Giner brings experience from previous roles as communications director for United Way and assistant director of public relations for Fontainebleau Miami Beach.

Acceleration Partners

Acceleration Partners welcomed Florian Jetzlsperger in the newly created role of German market lead. Jetzlsperger will work to bolster the agency’s presence in Germany to meet the fast-growing demand for integrated partnership marketing programs.

AKQA

AKQA promoted Roman Ptakowski to managing director for North America. The promotion comes after nearly five years of Ptakowski serving as managing director at AKQA Atlanta.

Basic/Dept

Basic/Dept promoted Steve Denekas to chief creative officer. In this role, Denekas will drive creativity for clients and foster a creative culture across the agency.

Clinch

Clinch made a series of new hires to support its 2023 business growth. Jon Cooke joined as vp sales, east coast; Mark Pavia joined as vp of account management; Darly Gordon joined as director of sales, U.K.; Adriano Trevino joined as director of sales, LATAM; Bianca Kim joined as senior director of sales, West Coast; and Matt Avery joined as director of sales, Midwest.

CourtAvenue

CourtAvenue welcomed David Dettmer as its new chief technology officer. Dettmer will empower clients with growth opportunities, lead product development and provide expertise in technical capabilities.

Digitalzone

Digitalzone welcomed three new members to its leadership team. Eboni Ryan joined as head of global marketing, Paul Noonan as vice president of U.S. sales and Victoria Tinsdale as senior director of EMEA sales.

Fraser Communications

Fraser Communications named Dr. Paul Simon as its senior science adviser. Simon will guide outreach strategy and help the agency develop communications efforts with health-related clients.

Gravity Global

Gravity Global hired Stephen Cheliotis as its global brand insights director. In this role, Cheliotis will advance the agency’s growth framework for clients, titled F.A.B. (Fame, Admiration, Belief).

Innocean USA

Innocean USA named Tony Kalathara as its group creative director. Coming from his previous role as creative director at Meta, Kalathara brings experience working on winning campaigns like “Google Home of the Whopper” and “Burning Stores” from Burger King.

Invisible Universe

Invisible Universe just welcomed Dan’l Hewitt and Joey Boukadakis to its board of directors. The two will utilize their industry knowledge and experience to offer expertise across the digital entertainment landscape.

Luquire

Luquire hired Laura Forester as its new director of strategy. Forester is an expert on human-centered design, with experience working with clients including Apple, Siemens Energy and The Coca-Cola Company.

Merge

Libby Morgan was named the first chief digital business officer at Merge. Morgan will work to bring together the agency’s technology and platform experts to develop and elevate EEP solutions and drive growth across geographies.

Mocean

Mocean launched +Mode, a modern design and branding studio, and brought in two new executive hires to lead it. Kevin Lau joined as executive creative director, and Allyson Nevil joined as executive producer.

NextUp

NextUp appointed Lisa Baird as its new CEO. Baird brings experience from managing multiple global teams, signing multimillion-dollar sponsorships, and working with clients like Team USA, the NFL and the National Women’s Soccer League.

Officer & Gentleman

Officer & Gentleman welcomed two new members to its creative team. Gines Gomez and Borja Lopez both joined the senior creative team to work with clients including Opera GX, Netflix, Chivas Regal and HuffPost.

PeterMayer

PeterMayer hired Lee Taylor and James Fletcher as group creative directors. The two will use their combined brand-building passion and experience working at agencies Curiosity and Burrell Communications to lead the agency’s creative services.

Proverb Agency

Proverb Agency founder Daren Bascome was named to two Boston most influential lists: 150 Most Influential Bostonians by Boston Magazine and Most Influential Men of Color by Get Konnected.

Revolt

Revolt hired Louise Rapley as its first U.S. managing director. Rapley will head the consultancy’s U.S. operations, lead client services, drive new business and develop a range of solutions for clients.

rEvolution

Justine Fedak was named chief client officer at rEvolution. Fedak will lead the sports marketing agency’s global client services to drive development of how the agency delivers integrated marketing solutions to clients.

sparks & honey

Omnicom’s cultural strategy agency, sparks & honey, made new appointments to its executive leadership team. Mark Newhouse was promoted to president and chief operating officer; Davianne Harris was named managing partner and chief client officer; and Hannah Hickman and Robb Henzi were both elevated to partner.

The Distillery Project

The Distillery Project welcomed Neil Travers and Sam Ramos to its leadership team. Travers joined as partner and head of production, and Ramos joined as senior producer.

Thirst

Bailey James was named the first North America managing director for Thirst. As the brains behind Budweiser’s and Campbell Soup’s redesigns, James brings over 15 years of experience in global branding.

Wavemaker

Wakemaker named Jon Gittings as its new international head of strategy. Gittings will lead Adobe’s global strategic direction, global brand strategy for Colgate and development strategy for U.S.-based global business opportunities.

If you have updates you’d like to share with Adweek, please reach out to us at agencyspy@adweek.com.

We took our favorite news clips from agencies this week and gathered them in one place. Enjoy.

180 

180 was chosen as Dubai Airports’ brand strategy and communications partner. The agency’s work will include internal and external campaigns.

360PR+

360PR+ was selected to manage public relations for the Skin Creative product division at consumer goods company BIC. The division includes a portfolio of skin art products, including body art marker brand BodyMark, semipermanent brand Inkbox and temporary tattoo brand Tattly. 360PR+ will lead PR planning, proactive news bureau, tentpole activations and new product launches, measurement, ongoing strategic counsel and account management for the division.

Brandwidth

Brandwidth acquired creative social media agency Cubaka. The acquisition aims to strengthen Cubaka’s end-to-end digital customer experience offering to clients.

Cargo

Cargo and True Media are partnering to serve as the integrated marketing agency for LG Business Solutions USA. The two will join forces to develop, create and implement strategic marketing programs, creative campaigns and media plans for the brand’s product lines and vertical markets in the U.S.

Goldenchild

New agency Goldenchild, led by managing director Matthew Marquis and executive director Pierre Nobile, just launched. An affiliate to Golden LA, the agency will be led by executive creative director Fons Schiedon.

Horizon Media Canada

Horizon Media Canada just launched new AMP target and location data capabilities. The offerings aim to enhance its out-of-home advertising effectiveness and engagement.

Invnt.atom

Web3 gateway for enterprise brands Trident3 is partnering with digital agency invnt.atom to offer a one-stop Web3 solution for global brands. The joint offering combines both companies’ proprietary solutions and services to enable brands to transition into the Web3 world without sacrificing brand ethos.

TMW Unlimited

National Savings and Investments (NS&I) chose TMW Unlimited as its integrated marketing agency, under a contract that will last for up to four years. The agency will be responsible for all digital marketing, strategic marketing technology support, above the line creative and strategy and customer relationship marketing.

Romph Pou Agency

Romph Pou Agency was named the agency of record for Devils River Whiskey. The agency will lead the distiller’s brand development and national marketing strategy in an effort to build brand awareness and drive trials for eight current whiskey expressions.

The One Club for Creativity

The One Club for Creativity launched One Creator Lab in partnership with TikTok. One Creator Lab is a free 20-week training program that covers advertising fundamentals as well as the maker skills and tools necessary for bringing effective short-form video campaigns to life at the speed of culture.

If you have updates you’d like to share with Adweek, please reach out to us at agencyspy@adweek.com.

What do Issa Rae’s “Awkward Black Girl” series, Peloton and TLC’s self-titled fifth album have in common? They all got off the ground thanks to Kickstarter.

However, recently instated CEO Everette Taylor, told Adweek the crowdfunding platform hasn’t been shouting loud enough about these success stories. So, as part of his ongoing mission to put the legacy brand back on the cultural map, he’s hired two ex-Twitter execs to help spread the word.

Joining as VP of brand marketing is Twitter’s former head of global brand Courtney Brown Warren, who will oversee all marketing functions and initiatives across brand creative, content, social, partnerships, and communications and public relations to accelerate the growth of Kickstarter.

Prior to Twitter, Warren headed creative strategy for Amazon-owned Audible’s emerging business and international division. She has also held senior creative roles at the Madison Square Garden Company and Time.

Reporting to her is Nikki Kria, also coming to Kickstarter from Twitter as its new head of communications. In her most recent role, she was responsible for increasing awareness of Twitter’s advertising products—its top revenue lever. She has a history in public relations, with tenures at Red Havas and Wunderman Thompson.

Both Warren and Kria (who departed Twitter following Elon Musk’s takeover) will support Taylor’s strategy to breathe new life into the Kickstarter brand. They will also be tasked with helping the business cultivate a better relationship with the creators and communities who use it, from gamers to writers to entrepreneurs. Part of their remit will also be ensuring the platform is more inclusive and equitable for creators of color.

“Because they already know each other, it was like they came as a package deal,” explained Taylor. “It’s been beautiful to [bring on board] people that have worked together in the same room before.”

Dusting off a stale brand

One of the original crowdfunding platforms, Kickstarter has helped people, pilots and businesses raise $6.9 billion for over 228,000 projects since 2009.

Taylor made the unusual leap from CMO of art marketplace Artsy to Kickstarter CEO in September 2022. “I’m still a marketer at heart,” he asserted, saying his new seat at the top was all about “getting people excited” about the brand itself, which he is the first to admit had gone slightly “stale.”

“It felt like a legacy brand that wasn’t a legacy brand,” he said. “We were still one of the largest in our space, but we needed a boost.”

He was right. Before Taylor’s arrival, and just as the dust settled from the peak of the pandemic in 2022, the business had lost its way amid increasing competition from rivals like Crowdfunder, Patreon and Gofundme.

It’s PR had also been unfavorable; dogged by years of frustrations from white-collar employees who wanted to – and eventually did – unionize, in 2020, it laid off 40% of its workforce following a major drop in projects and, thereby, revenues in the early days of Covid-19. By 2022, then-CEO Aziz Hasan stepped down following months after criticism from creators over plans to transition the platform to blockchain technology, an idea that was ultimately halted after creators vowed to take their business elsewhere.

Bringing with him a fresh expertise, Taylor has spent the last six months looking at what makes the brand special to users; community, inclusivity and success. Now, Warren will spearhead a marketing strategy designed to refresh the brand, rooted in her experience engaging communities on Twitter. Discussing her plans just two days into the job, she was already forging a clear path.

“We need to re-engage those who have loved Kickstarter over the years, but we also need to attract a new community of diverse creators and backers that are hungry to support the products, categories and niches they care about,” she said, highlighting the company’s role as a platform where people could discover the next big thing.

She gave a hint that future creatives might be hinged on “celeb creators” themselves but said she was also keen to explore experiential work and a large-scale brand campaign. For now, it has no agency of record, but it will be considering which partners it needs to add to its arsenal.

“It will be exciting to find partners and agencies with the same passion as us who can help us tell our story in the best way possible,” she said.

Kria said the opportunity to plant Kickstarter’s flag in the ground when it came to culture is what attracted her to the role.

“We’ve seen Peloton fund its bike through Kickstarter, TLC funded their last album through Kickstarter, Issa Rae was here before “Insecure” was “Insecure.”… These creative ideas have gone on to have culture of their own and an impact on broader society,” she said.

She continued: “The opportunity to be connected to and tell the stories of a business that is doing this important work was something I could not pass on.”

Telling powerful stories

As well as steering the ship with his marketing hat on, Taylor has also added new business units, which he said are already “helping push up the metrics” and “drive revenues”.

These have included updates to its “pledge management” system, which helps businesses and individuals organize the collection of data necessary to fulfill backers’ rewards (ie, send out products promised in return for backing).

Kickstarter has also started tentatively offering in-house digital marketing services and products to people who are trying to raise money within its walls. “As a marketer, I understand the importance of that,” he explained, saying Kria’s experience at Twitter would be instrumental in helping grow this.

On the DE&I front, he is making sure his team is made up of the creme-de-la-creme of the industry to help him in the “uphill battle” of revitalizing the brand, while ensuring the people he works alongside are representative of the creators showing up on Kickstarter.

“That’s not always been reflected in our team here,” he said.

Other recent appointments include Danny Baez as head of arts, whose career in the arts began in 2008 after emigrating from the Dominican Republic to New York City.

Taylor pointed to the story of L.A.-born artist Lauren Halsey, who is known for celebrating Black life and aesthetics, as one he’d like to see more of. The artist launched a successful campaign on Kickstarter pre-Covid-19. Now, she is exhibiting as part of the annual Roof Garden commission at the Metropolitan Museum in NYC.

“Those stories are more powerful than me, Courtney or Nikki. That’s why I feel more bullish about it: they can take further and make them more widespread,” the CEO said.

Revolving Door Roundup is an ongoing series tracking moves at agencies around the world. While the series has been part of AgencySpy for the past few years, we’re taking our weekly roundups to the Adweek site. Thursdays highlight acquisitions, client wins, product and agency launches and other news, while Fridays review hires, promotions and other personnel moves.

Agencies around the world are celebrating this Friday with new promotions, hires and partnerships aimed to accelerate growth and innovation in 2023.

19th and Park

Elisa Peebles was named head of strategy at 19th & Park. Additionally, Markia Erickson was named vp, client services and Leslie Alexander was named associate vp, client services.

Assembly

Assembly named Valerie Davis as its North American CEO. Previously the agency’s North American president, Davis will continue to oversee all operations in the region.

Coalition of Healthcare Communications

The Coalition of Healthcare Communications (CHC) welcomed James Potter as executive director. With significant experience in executive management and senior advocacy, Potter has served in leadership positions at New Hampshire Media Society, American Chiropractic Associate and American Academy of Physical Assistants.

ConsultMyApp

Gordon Bowman joined ConsultMyApp as sales director. Bowman will lead the agency’s business development strategy for clients including 02 Priority, General Motors, Channel 4 and Holland & Barrett.

Elmwood

Elmwood made two new appointments to its global leadership team with the goal of powering its brand vision. Abi Main joined as global chief financial officer and Kristin Nevin joined as global client partner.

EssenceMediacom U.S.

EssenceMediacom U.S. named Preeti Nadgar as its new chief strategy officer. Nadgar has over 20 years of experience in strategy at creative and media agencies, and has worked with brands like Kellogg’s, P&G and Samsung.

Furlined

Furlined signed directing duo Biceps for U.S. commercial representation. The pair, Egoitz Audikana and Victor Aguilar have garnered worldwide acclaimed and earned two Cannes Lions for their breakout film “Even More Confusing Times” for Burger King.

Gunpowder, Inc.

Gunpowder, Inc. formed a new executive leadership team, focused on growing the business, fostering a collaborative team environment and delivering high quality outcomes for clients. Carie Breunig was appointed as chief operating officer, Leah Berg as president and Caitlin Conley as vp of finance, with founder Ryan Chuckel remaining as CEO.

Gut

Gut brought on Pedro Porto as its new chief content officer. Formerly the director of Twitter Next Latin America, Porto will help clients identify opportunities to make more relevant content for audiences and build impactful, creative brand experiences.

HeyLet’sGo!

HeyLet’sGo! has brought on Lisa Gapinske as its new president. Gapinske joined from her previous account leadership roles at Sleek Machine, Allen & Gerritsen, MMB and Hill Holiday.

Junapr

Communications and public relations firm Junapr welcomed two new hires. Charlotte Lyman joined as senior communications manager and Debbie Mast joined as operations and marketing manager.

Lippincott

Lippincott welcomed Brendán Murphy as executive global creative director. Murphy brings over 30 years of experience leading design programs for brands across industries all around the world.

London Alley

London Alley brought on Karter Krasselt as creative director. This news comes after the appointments of Alex Gardner as chief marketing officer and Luke Anderson as partner and investor. 

Making Science

Making Science welcomed three senior team members, all previously at Google. Jason Downie was named CEO, Nick Piano chief revenue officer and Mallory Bradford chief customer officer.

Minted Content

Minted Content signed commercial and film director Carl Erik Rinsch to its exclusive roster for representation. Rinsch has worked with brands like Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Heineken.

Mother

Mother promoted Jed Cohen to co-executive creative director at its Los Angeles office. Cohen will serve alongside Simon Bruyn to provide creative leadership across Mother’s client roster, including Sonic, Postmates and Peloton.

Neon Flux

Neon Flux welcomed Scott Geftman as vice president of strategy. Formerly president of Rowing Blazers and the director at The Sage Group, Geftman will now support Neon Flux’s growth by raising capital, structuring deals and positioning companies for scale.

PureRED

PureRED signed on Jason Whiting in the new position of chief growth officer. Whiting will oversee the brand’s marketing and communications, as well as all strategic direction for the business development team.

Rachel Harrison Communications

Rachel Harrison Communications welcomed new members to its leadership team to support its recent growth. Lauren Ryback Hurth and Amber Appelbaum both joined as managing directors at the New York office and Kaitlin Egan joined as senior director at the LA office.

Semcasting

Semcasting made new appointments to its executive to fuel brand adoption of its identity solutions. Dan Green was named chief revenue officer, Justin Thompson general manager of identity and healthcare services and Ryan Calabrese vice president of business development, healthcare, pharma and financial services.

Squeak E. Clean Studios

Squeak E. Clean Studios hired Jennie Armon as its east coast executive creative producer. Armon has over 15 years of industry experience working for clients including BMW, Uber and Oreo.

Sunday Afternoon

Sunday Afternoon welcomed Rich Tu as executive creative director and partner. The award-winning multidisciplinary artist and design will work to grow the agency’s internal design studio.

The Ev&Ex Agency

The Ev&Ex Agency welcomed Meg Gleason as svp, executive creative director. Gleason brings 20 years of industry experience working with brands including Google, Condé Nast, Target and NBC.

Trailer Park Group

Trailer Park Group appointed Julian Sarmiento as its vice president of innovation at its production company and innovation studio, Mirada. Sarmiento will provide real-time immersive and interactive solutions for content and experiential on behalf of Mirada and TPG’s six other speciality companies.

If you have updates you’d like to share with Adweek, please continue to reach us at agencyspy@adweek.com.

Revolving Door Roundup is an ongoing series tracking moves at agencies around the world. While the series has been part of AgencySpy for the past few years, we’re taking our weekly roundups to the Adweek site. Thursdays highlight acquisitions, client wins, product and agency launches and other news, while Fridays review hires, promotions and other personnel moves.

The first week of Q2 is kicking off with hires, promotions and board additions at some of the largest, most rapidly growing agencies around the world.

Amp U.S.

Cody Clark was named senior creative at amp U.S. With 10 years of audio branding experience, Clark has worked on musical endeavors with clients including BMW, Peloton, Target, NBC and HBO. 

Astound Group

Astound Group named Joshua Friesel as its chief growth officer. Friesel will oversee business development, working to propel the firm’s growth in core industries, including sports, fashion and retail.

Brainlabs

Brainlabs named Adam Potashnick as its North American CEO. Joining from his 17 year tenure at EssenceMediacom, Potashnick will work to cement the company’s reputation as a full-service, digital-first media agency with a unique scientific approach.

Brandon

Brandon is growing its content team with two new additions. Catherine Quant was named social content strategist and Kennedy Hausmann was named as social content creator.

DCI

DCI appointed Pamela Laite as its new director of business events. Laite brings over two decades of DMO and convention center marketing experience, which she will channel to lead the DCI team to help destinations attract North American meeting and incentive business.

Eleven Sound

Eleven Sound brought on Jordan Meltzer as a new partner for the audio post production boutique. Working alongside owner Jeff Payne, the pair will be leaving Santa Monica to co-purchase a new studio in West L.A.

Exverus Media

Exverus Media hired Michelle Andrade to manage its public relations and communications in-house. The appointment aims to lay the groundwork for a new PR and communications department within the agency.

Folk

Folk made two new appointments to support agency expansion following a period of record growth. Amy Martin joined as account director with the goal of creating impactful and inclusive PR campaigns. Rhian Drummond joined as senior creative with the goal of bolstering the agency’s public sector capabilities.

Havas

Havas made two new appointments to its global CSR and communications teams. Stéphanie Bertrand-Tassilly joined as global chief CSR officer and Charlotte Rambaud joined as global chief communications officer.

Healthy Minds

Healthy Minds, a millenial/Gen Z-driven mental health non-profit, welcomed marketing and communications executive and mental health advocate Bill Kolb to its board of directors.

Hogarth Worldwide

Hogarth Worldwide named Nathasha Cholerton-Brown as CEO of the Americas. With an impressive track record in revenue growth and business transformation, Cholerton-Brown will drive growth and market penetration across the two continents.

Imagination

Imagination named Becca Machado as its U.K. finance director. Previously the commercial financial director at WPP, Machado will manage the company’s financial and commercial operations in the U.K., while also driving business growth.

Iris North America

Iris North America made a series of hires to support its operations, social and PR teams. Grace Tsai was named senior vice president, data driven futures practice, Lindsay Munson was named head of social and PR and Paul Daligan was named head of operations.

IProspect

Whitney Fishman was hired by iProspect as its evp, head of innovation. Fishman will develop innovation plans a cross client teams and educate employees on the role of technology in driving consumer behavior.

Jack Morton

Jack Morton appointed Christine Capelli as its managing director of Boston. Previously the svp, executive creative director, Capelli has lead the office’s creative team for clients like LL Bean, Lego and Subway.

Kesselskramer.Digital

Kesselskramer.Digital appointed Jan Leijdekkers as its new creative director. With 30 years of experience, the industry veteran will work to ensure the growth and development of the company as a whole, as well as oversee its creative output.

Merge

Merge hired Stacey Hawes as its new chief performance and data officer. In this role, Hawes will enhance Merge’s digital analytics offering to elevate its performance marketing.

Mesh

Mesh named Noah Boudreaux as its COO. In this role, Boudreaux will drive agency growth and unify its creative and digital services.

Nurun

Nurun appointed Eric Noël as its executive vice president, managing director. Noël will lead the agency’s day-to-day operations, pursue growth, expand expertise and develop its talent.

Ogilvy Consulting

Susan Machtiger was named president of Ogilvy Consulting for North America. Machtiger will oversee a team of analysts, strategists and consultants collaborating with leaders to grow value for clients’ brands and businesses.

Performance Art New York

Performance Art New York appointed Stefanie Kubanka as its new evp managing director. Kubanka will manage U.S.-based client relationships as its operations in New York expand.

SharpEnd/io.tt

SharpEnd/io.tt added two new leadership hires as part of its ambitious growth plans. James Greening joined as creative partner and Jessica Markowitz joined as client director for North America.

Unicorns & Unicorns

Unicorns & Unicorns signed Tamar Levine to its roster. Levine is a multi-disciplinary commercial and film director who has worked with clients like Victoria’s Secret Pink, Urban Decay, Lexus and Warner Bros Records.

Vivvix

Vivvix is expanding its executive team with the hire of Matt Young as its new chief commercial officer. Young will be responsible for all global revenue, customer success and commercial operations.

Zigazoo Kids

Zigazoo Kids named Ashley Mady as its new president. Previously the company’s president of consumer products, Mady will work with departments across the company to achieve revenue goals, business objectives, user growth and engagement targets and more.

If you have updates you’d like to share with Adweek, please continue to reach us at agencyspy@adweek.com.

Revolving Door Roundup is an ongoing series tracking moves at agencies around the world. While the series has been part of AgencySpy for the past few years, we’re taking our weekly roundups to the Adweek site. Thursdays highlight acquisitions, client wins, product and agency launches and other news, while Fridays review hires, promotions and other personnel moves.

This week’s agency moves spotlight a series of industry changing campaign launches, acquisitions and rebrands.

4B Advisory

4B Advisory launched under the leadership of sports and brand partnerships executive Jared Schoenfeld. The firm is focused on creating impact and advancing mental health and wellness.

62Above

62Above welcomed its newest client, Discover Coronado. The agency was given its first assignments to conduct market research and position Coronado as an enchanting and easy California coastal destination, increasing the average daily resort rate and length of stay.

Colle McVoy

The Goddard School, a national early childhood education provider, has selected Colle McVoy to lead strategy and the development of a creative campaign aimed at increasing awareness and consideration with families nationwide.

Gassed

TikTok agency Gassed is now extending its services to be available on Meta’s social media channels, Facebook and Instagram. The agency will now be able to test, iterate and implement strategies to increase efficiency for partners to reach core KPIs.

Fors Marsh

Fors Marsh acquired full-service social impact marketing firm Brunet-Garcia. After two years of partnering to deliver impactful work, the acquisitions formerly cements their relationship.

Havas Media Group

Havas Media Group acquired Vancouver-based digital agency and data consultancy Noise Digital. The acquisition aims to expand Havas Media Group’s North American footprint and build its expertise in digital performance and data technology.

Laughlin Constable

Laughlin Constable was named the national agency of record for Vienna Beef. The agency will lead strategy, creative, social marketing, public relations and media.

Leap Group

Leap Group rebranded its full-service digital agency, Leap Agency, to (human)x. The rebrand, complete with a new website and logo, represents the agency’s core values, individuality and bold vision for the future.

PR Concierge

Isabelle Du Plessis launched a public relations and marketing firm, PR Concierge. The firm is focused on serving creative studios and individuals in advertising, technology and entertainment, and offers communications strategy, media relations, event production and social media management.

ScienceMagic

Brompton chose ScienceMagic as its new global agency of record. The partnership will be centered around the creation of a new global brand platform and launch of its first global brand campaign.

Siegel+Gale

TriNet unveiled its new brand identity, aiming to position itself as the ideal platform for small and medium-size businesses. The evolved identity was designed by global branding agency Siegel+Gale.

Slutty Vegan

The brand Slutty Vegan told Adweek that it is issuing an RFP for an agency of record. According to a statement, the vegan food brand’s goal “is to engage and entertain the most loyal Sluts on the planet with a continuous pipeline of dope content.”

Spotify

Spotify is expanding its Spotify Advertising Academy to Canada. The program features a localized educational opportunity for marketers to better understand how to unlock their campaigns’ full potential.

Strat7

Global strategic insight and consumer analytics group Strat7 acquired strategy, insight and planning consultancy Rainmakers CSI. The acquisition offers Strat7 significant benefits, including clients like Johnson & Johnson and Diageo, as well as the team members of the organization.

The Distillery Project

The Distillery Project is partnering with Consumers Credit Union to provide strategic and creative services. TDP will work to develop CCU’s brand story and create a comprehensive multiplatform communication program to build awareness for its offerings and drive growth.

Troup

Troup will be launching an advertising campaign for the JFK Presidential Library and Museum. The campaign will promote the agency’s new exhibit, “Service and Sacrifice.”

TBWA

Omnicom agency TBWA acquired Dark Horses, a leading U.K. sports creative agency. The acquisition aims to strengthen TBWA’s brand experience expertise in the U.K.

If you have updates you’d like to share with Adweek, please continue to reach us at agencyspy@adweek.com.

Longtime Disney veteran Asad Ayaz will become the company’s first chief brand officer, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced today.

Top line

As Iger continues making changes at the House of Mouse, Ayaz will now be responsible for “stewarding and elevating” the Disney brand globally, the company said. He’ll also stay in his role as president of marketing for The Walt Disney Studios, overseeing marketing and publicity for its films and series, as well as Disney+.

Between the lines

Ayaz, an 18-year Disney veteran, will now oversee the Disney100 campaign coming into the company’s 100th year, and develop and execute brand marketing campaigns for Disney’s entire suite of content and consumer experiences.

“Asad is an exceptional creative leader with a deep understanding of what Disney means to millions of people around the world,” Iger said in a statement. “His taking on this role is particularly noteworthy and consequential as we commemorate our historic 100th anniversary, and I am confident that his strategic, operational and creative prowess, along with his profound passion for Disney, will make him an outstanding steward of our stories, characters, brands and franchises.”

The marketer has overseen campaigns for Disney hits like Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Black Panther and Avatar: The Way of Water, among many others.

“Throughout both my early life and my time at the company, I’ve marveled at the power of Disney’s storytelling, experiences and simply the name itself to inspire people and resonate through generations,” Ayaz said in a statement. “I am immensely grateful to Bob for entrusting me with this opportunity, and I’m excited to work with the amazing teams around our company to highlight all the things that make Disney exceptional and ensure that we continue to create those meaningful connections with audiences for many more generations to come.”

Bottom line

The news comes the day after Disney named Joe Earley its new president of direct-to-consumer for Disney Entertainment, replacing Michael Paull. Disney is also currently going through a major restructuring. In February, Iger announced a 10-figure streaming loss and a workforce reduction that would result in 7,000 layoffs.

Less than a year ago, Dentsu revealed the final phase of its massive companywide reorganization, slimming down its creative capabilities to just one brand—Dentsu Creative. Behind the reorg stood two key leaders, CEO Wendy Clark and global chief creative officer Fred Levron.

Both leaders have now departed the holding company. Clark announced she was leaving Dentsu last summer, while Levron and Dentsu mutually agreed to part ways today, according to a company statement. The agency is in the process of finalizing a succession plan to oversee Dentsu Creative in international markets.

Levron’s departure comes five months after Dentsu announced it was consolidating its Japanese and global leadership teams to form one single leadership group. As part of those changes, Hiroshi Igarashi became the global CEO of the holding company while Levron remained global CCO, with the exception of the Japanese market.

“During his tenure as dentsu’s global chief creative officer (excluding Japan), Fred developed and launched Dentsu Creative to the market, bringing together Dentsu’s global creative efforts under one roof, and led the organization to a very successful showing at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity,” the company said in a statement. “Creative remains a critical cornerstone of our strategic vision for Dentsu. We thank Fred for his energy and commitment to the transformation of Dentsu Creative and wish him success in his next challenge.”

Since the creation of Dentsu Creative, the agency has quickly hired chief creatives across a number of offices under Levron. The agency brought in Rafael Rizuto from BBH US to serve as Dentsu Creative CCO for the U.S. Hispanic LATAM markets; Pedro Pérez from Energy BBDO as Chicago CCO; Riccardo Fregoso from Publicis Italy as Italy CCO.

In addition, the agency hired former global COO and partner at Gut, Paulo Fogaca, as its U.S. CEO to solidify Dentsu Creative’s vision, strategy and positioning for the U.S.. He reported directly to Levron and Jacki Kelley, Dentsu Americas CEO.

Levron’s tenure at Dentsu

Dentsu brought Levron into the organization from FCB in November 2021 to be one of key architects of the reorganization. In his first eight months, Clark and Levron pieced together the new look Dentsu, revealing at Cannes last summer the consolidated Dentsu Creative, which merged DentsuMB with 360i and Isobar. Clark and Levron’s goal was to bring “horizontal creativity” across its various service lines, including creativity, media and CRM.

Levron’s big pitch creatively was what he called “modern creativity,” blending together three core values: creating culture, changing society and inventing the future. He also instituted a new creative scale that allowed the agency to score work from across the globe using the same standards.

During the consolidation of Dentsu last summer, a number of sources within the holding company as well as clients expressed frustration to Adweek about how the reorganization was conducted. Last August, a source told Adweek that Dentsu had been working on the reorg for more than a year when Levron retooled the efforts. The result was friction among U.S. leaders and the global leadership team as many employees weren’t clear on their roles moving forward when Dentsu Creative was announced in June 2022.

Since Adweek’s story ran in September, a number of sources—including several Adweek spoke with for that story—have expressed that much of that uncertainty has been alleviated within the organization. Several high level executives have told Adweek that the U.S. feels much more aligned on the vision of Dentsu Creative and how it fits in within the wider organization.

Sources have also told Adweek that communication between teams as well as leadership’s messaging to employees have improved in 2023.

Since the reorganization was announced, Dentsu Creative has won several accounts, including the Illinois Lottery and more notably Apple TV+ work. According to the agency, clients have responded well to its horizontal creativity strategy as in the U.S. 53% of dentsu’s top 100 clients work with at least two of the network’s three core service disciplines—creative, media and CXM. Across the Americas region, which includes the U.S. Toronto and LATAM, it’s 58%.

When a toxic Wall Street workplace left James Kinney with debilitating anxiety and agoraphobia, he could only access mental health treatment if he continued to accept the environment that triggered his condition.

“I was essentially trapped in my apartment in Brooklyn and terrified to catch the subway,” said Kinney, who is the global chief people officer at Media.Monks. “15 years later now that I have the tools to cope, I don’t want anyone else to have the experience that I had.” 

After being forced to manage his symptoms the “old school way,” which consisted of taking walks, reading books and practicing yoga, Kinney is presenting the advertising industry with coping skills and wellness education that doesn’t depend on an insurance plan or a therapist office’s waitlist. The Advertising Alliance for Mental Health (AMH), which Kinney developed alongside a board of like-minded industry advisors, sheds light on the pressure across the advertising space to constantly contribute creative ideas and answer demands from clients. Kinney, who remembers his HR lead telling him to “take a nap and then get back to work” when he opened up about his mental health, is working to combat the industry’s continued glorification of a hustle culture that deprioritizes wellness and self care.

According to Kinney, mental health needs don’t elicit the same level of urgency as physical ailments. While a broken arm is immediately placed in a cast, symptoms of depression and anxiety are not efficiently treated. To combat this inaccessibility while acknowledging the specific needs of business professionals, Kinney’s platform includes free anxiety management courses, group coaching calls from mental health professionals and an anonymous community forum. He is launching the platform alongside his “Beat Burnout Challenge,” a six-week podcast-style course that is designed to build community among AMH members. 

How do we have meetings? How are our organizations designed? Is toxicity in our DNA or is it not? Is creativity really celebrated, or our deadlines really celebrated? These are the questions that we really have to ask ourselves

—James Kinney, global chief people officer, Media.Monks

Advocacy on and off the clock 

After spending years caring for his mental health, Kinney deployed his knowledge in leadership roles across several leading agencies. He built Giant Spoon’s first diversity program, after joining as the company’s director of people, and became what he describes as the “head coach” for employees dealing with challenging life changes, from the death of a parent, to breakups, anxiety, generational challenges and others. Since then, Kinney held roles as chief talent officer at the creative agency Mother, and global chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer and North America chief people officer at Ogilvy, before accepting his current position at Media.Monks. 

While maintaining his full-time role, Kinney quietly worked on AMH for the past year. He produced all of AMH’s foundational content by himself, and he’s funding the entire mission, he told Adweek. 

“I really think that when you make something a transactional process, or when commerce is involved, it changes the relationship of what should occur,” he said. “With something this special to me, monetization wasn’t something that I was interested in.”

Building transparency through community 

Kinney has no plans to formally hire staff. Instead, he sees the AMH as a community-driven and volunteer-led initiative, which could lead to location-based chapters and in-person meetups.

“Maybe there’s a New York chapter, a Los Angeles chapter, etcetera. So, I can see people volunteering to help spread the word and spread the message, which I think is the most important thing,” he said. 

Kinney’s advisory board, consisting of industry leaders across the ecosystem includes Walter T. Geer, chief experience design officer at VMLY&R, Amber Justis, evp and head of creative at Wunderman Thompson California and Nancy Luong, digital program manager at Salesforce.

“That pressure cooker environment really bonded us, because we saw in each other that we could, if we partnered up, share some of that burden together and be that conduit of support for the people that weren’t getting it,” Justis said, who met Kinney in a previous role.

The board will advise Kinney on how to advance the platform, which courses to launch next, how to best consider representation when working with mental health coaches and how to ensure the platform maintains an intersectional approach to mental health.

The community-focused forum will help fill a gap for creatives with mental health concerns. Often, companies encourage employees to contact employee assistance programs (EAPs) to get help with those concerns. The trouble, according to Kinney, is that those programs are meant to help employees after they’ve already recognized a problem, instead of providing them support and mental health tools on a regular basis. He hopes that his service can be a continuous resource in an industry of employers who offer “quick fixes”—like additional time off or short-term counseling—that fail to soothe discontent in organization with deep-seeded cultural strains. 

“How do we have meetings? How are our organizations designed? Is toxicity in our DNA or is it not? Is creativity really celebrated, or our deadlines really celebrated? These are the questions that we really have to ask ourselves,” Kinney said. 

By introducing a library of external resources and creating an open forum, Kinney hopes to spark internal conversations that span beyond the boilerplate EAP registration sheet from HR. 

“My hope it’s a paradigm shift for how we see our industry. I want other people to see CFOs and CEOs also talk about their mental health and be a part of the platform,” said Kinney.

On a rainy, but unseasonably warm Friday morning in mid-February, something historic happened.

A gathering of Black entrepreneurs—each representing their brands across different industries—convened at the Nasdaq office in Times Square for the opening bell ceremony. The ritual has long been for financial institutions, companies announcing an IPO, or other milestones garnering fanfare from the business world.

Which is why it was so monumental for the founders of Slutty Vegan, Mielle Organics and The Lip Bar to be there and why investor and entrepreneur Richelieu Dennis made sure they were.

“What you’re seeing is the manifestation of what our ancestors could not do,” Dennis told the group after an outdoor photoshoot where their logos and photos flashed across the famed building. “And so, we’re all here getting the opportunity to do that.”

This is about how you’re going to use that money to bring real sustainable joy and change to our communities.

—Richelieu Dennis, entrepreneur, investor

“Representation matters,” said Sehr Thadani, Nasdaq’s chief digital officer, who organized the event with Dennis’ New Voices Fund and Essence Ventures along with Skai Blue Media, which also included a post-ceremony panel discussions with some of the founders and funders in attendance.

Thadani told Adweek she planned to do similar events going forward.

“I cannot underestimate how important this is,” said Ceci Kurzman, founder of Nexus Management Group. “When you see Rich [Dennis] flashing these names up here, that’s really what allows people to be in a position … to be able to advocate for this consumer.”

Always betting on Black (entrepreneurs)

For Dennis, the day was the culmination of years of hard work that began at a card table on 125^th street in Harlem, where he sold soaps and shea butter. A business that, in 1991, would evolve into personal care company Sundial Brands. When Dennis sold the company to Unilever in 2017, he did so with the promise of establishing a $100 million fund to support other Black-owned businesses. He called it the New Voices Fund.

“We don’t have Black banks that are set up to fund us at scale,” said Dennis. “So, you can go up and down the things that are missing from the ecosystem.” 

A few weeks after the event, a wave of jarring news stories surrounding troubled banks began to hit, sending shockwaves through the tech and financial sector and panic among small business owners seeking capital. But as troubling as the news was for those affected and the public’s overall faith in the institutions, it proved Dennis’ point on the necessity and urgency of putting such an ecosystem in place. 

It is a privilege for us to partner with organizations that convene extraordinary companies. 

—Sehr Thadani, chief digital officer, Nasdaq

“But in order to build those things, you’ve got to have capital,” said Dennis. “We decided that we would unlock the wealth that we have built inside of Sundial and leverage that to go build these infrastructures and these resources.”

In the years since it was established, the New Voices Fund has built up a sizeable portfolio of diverse brands and has notably been instrumental in the recent growth of brands such as Slutty Vegan, the hugely popular plant-based fast-food chain founded by the charismatic Pinky Cole valued at $100 million. And Mielle Organics, the natural haircare company founded by married duo Monique and Melvin Rodriguez, which was acquired earlier this year by Proctor & Gamble for $100 Million.

The fund also counts the McBride Sisters Collection wine company and The Lip Bar, founded by Melissa Butler—whose vegan beauty brand famously defied naysaying Shark Tank judges to become the largest Black-owned beauty brand sold in in Target—as success stories. 

Dennis refers to himself as “head intern” when asked his role in the companies’ funding and acquisition journeys.

When New Voices was created, it was done exclusively for Black women, one of the fastest-rising founder demographics, who, according to a Project Diane report cited by Dennis, are the ones most likely to struggle to raise capital for their businesses, with fewer than 100 raising $1 Million. The fund initially partnered with his alma mater Babson College as well as the Tuck School of Business to establish minority entrepreneurship programs “tailored to Black women and their specific needs,” but soon saw a greater need to expand their offerings as graduates struggled to find funding and available resources.

“It became very frustrating to see the type of potential these women have,” said Dennis. “The types of problems they’re solving in our community. And the deliberate exclusionary practices that kept them out of the access to resources.”

The fund has since expanded its reach and support to include Black male founders, and follows a model Dennis calls PACE, which stands for “Purpose. Access. Capital and Expertise.”

In addition to being a godfather of sorts to budding Black entrepreneurs, Dennis is also the founder and chair of Essence Ventures, the parent company of Essence Magazine and its content and events umbrella, which now includes AfroPunk and BeautyCon. He is also co-founder and chair of Group Black.

Always room for more

“I think this is really monumental, what he’s created,” added Kurzman. “Whether they all are successes or whatever happens, it’s all a force multiplier for what’s going to happen. I think we’ll all be crediting Rich.”

Kurzman believes in the economic theory that competition is good for business: it leads to lower prices, higher quality and more innovation.

“There’s force in numbers because we’re illustrating the power of the consumer and the power of the business minds in this community,” he said.

Although he has been steadily amassing a vast brand and media empire, Dennis is adamant his endgame is bigger than business.