Agency News: Vivaki's Social Chief; Troy Kelley to R/GA; Modernista Shutters
Plus hires and wins at Organic, Davis Elen, and Connelly Digital.
VivaKi Names First Chief Social Media Officer. In the newly created position, Michael Wiley, formerly of Edelman, will standardize products and drive growth across VivaKi’s agencies: Digitas, Razorfish, ZenithOptimedia, and Starcom MediaVest Group. He will report to Rishad Tobaccowala, chief strategy and innovation officer at VivaKi.
“Wiley’s track record as a pioneer in emerging and social media makes him perfectly suited to serve as both the glue and the accelerant for Earned media and share of voice across the VivaKi agencies,” said Tobaccowala. “He will aggregate and fortify the disparate but strong Social capabilities that already exist, secure first-mover partnership opportunities and leverage the Nerve Center to build out a scaled Earned offering that all of our agencies can activate for their clients.”
Arnold Worldwide Vet Troy Kelley Joins R/GA to Manage Walmart. Kelley joins R/GA as VP, managing director, client services, and will be leading the agency’s Walmart business. Kelley, responsible for developing Arnold’s social media and mobile offerings, brings over two decades of experience to his role at R/GA. He will report to Dawn Winchester, EVP, chief marketing services officer.
Modernista shuts down. Today marks the end of Modernista, the Boston-based boutique advertising agency launched in 2000 by founders Gary Koepke and Lance Jensen. In its prime, Modernista boasted a lengthy roster of clients including General Motors’ Cadillac and Hummer, MTV, and the Gap. However, in 2008 the agency began initiating rounds of layoffs due to client retractions during the recession. Earlier this year, the agency lost co-founder Jensen, who accepted a position at Hill Holiday as chief creative officer.
David Moranville is Named Chief Creative Officer of Davis Elen Advertising. The appointment marks a period of reorganization for the West Coast agency, with a focus on “creative excellence based on insightful planning.” Moranville will manage the agency’s creative product.
Organic Named Digital AOR by Pull-Ups Brand. Kimberly-Clark’s disposable training pants intends to increase its use of online media. “We plan on utilizing digital media to integrate the Pull-Ups brand with Huggies diapers and GoodNites disposable training pants in an effort to provide a social component for the brand, connecting the different types of diapers to a baby’s life cycle, from birth to potty-training,” said Organic CEO Marita Scarfi.
Meredith Integrated Marketing Promotes David Brown to EVP, General Manager. In the role, Brown will have expanded oversight of the company’s Content and Customer Relationship Marketing (CRM) business, including supervision of Directive, its database analytics agency.
Scott Savitt to Lead Connelly Digital as Digital Director. Savitt joins the Boston-based firm after holding senior positions at two Aegis Media Group digital agencies, Molecular and Isobar U.S.
