In the Pitch Room
Levi’s selected Droga5 as its lead creative agency.
Horizon Media won Kohl’s agency of record account.
Industry News
No Fixed Address launched a new independent agency called Courage founded by former Rethink execs Dhaval Bhatt, Joel Holtby and Niki Sahni.
Labelium acquired UK-based social activation agency 1000heads.
Social impact organization Understood is partnering with the 4A’s to make its new suite of disability inclusion workplace training available to companies in the advertising and marketing industry.
CourtAvenue has expanded into Latin America with offices in Mexico, Costa Rica, Buenos Aires and Brazil and inked a partnership with Aiken Digital to expand in Europe and APAC.
ADMGroup, a company that helps marketers transform their supply chains to be more sustainable, has acquired consumer engagement agency Lapine and business transformation consultancy Effectus.
On the Move
Accenture Song named Jason Kreher chief creative officer, brand, North America.
Cindy Gustafson was named Bark’s chief marketing officer.
Mike Davidson joined Media.Monks as head of production.
Ashley Cooksley was named CEO and Kendall DiBella was named managing director of The Social Element in North America.
Mother hired Teri Miller as president and partner in the U.S.
NBCUniversal named Frank Sgrizzi SVP, client partnerships.
The New York Times appointed Guy Griggs as VP of national sales.
McGarrah Jessee named Tim Roan chief creative officer.
RAPP has created a new position, director of DE&I, and tapped Nicole Simpson for the role.
Giant Spoon hired Kristin Maverick as EVP of social strategy.
Jon Reily was named SVP of Bounteous' new commerce center of excellence.
Media planning and analytics platform Redmill Solutions named Jay Stevens CEO.
Publicis’ Team One brought on Sean McGrath as group account director.
Entertainment-focused creative agency Bond announced a series of promotions: Darnell Brisco was named EVP and head of growth; Ben Andron is now EVP and head of A/V; Kathleen Philips, Patricio Hoter, Ali Comperchio, Brent Rockswold and Chris LaMons were all promoted to creative directors of A/V; and Peter Soldinger was elevated to VP and head of creative strategy.
Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners hired Jennifer Crotteau as its first director of operations and commercialization.
IPG data-driven creative agency Performance Art expanded its creative leadership team in North America, appointing Paul Fung and Benson Ngo as creative directors in New York and Jess Willis as group creative director in Toronto.
Brand Buzz
Budweiser is launching cans that replace its name with the word “Freedom.”
Shutterstock acquired video content marketplace Pond5 for $210 million and appointed Paul Hennessy as its new CEO.