Doner LA beefs up McDonald’s team
Doner LA announced four senior hires following the recent consolidation of McDonald’s retail and local marketing, where Doner was assigned nearly 1,000 local partners to help bring big-agency strategic and creative firepower down to the co-op and franchisee level.
Andrew Lamar joins Doner as a Multicultural Strategist, working across Doner clients to enhance the agency’s focus in this area. Prior to joining Doner, he oversaw multicultural marketing for clients including McDonald’s, BeamSuntory, Western Union, and Coca-Cola, as an account supervisor and strategist at LimeGreen Moroch in Atlanta.
During his 12-year tenure at the agency, Lamar supported the launch of McDonald’s delivery in partnership with UberEats and helped increase market share among African American consumers in select markets. He also led the development and implementation of EFFEN Vodka’s “In Da Club” integrated event.
This is a strategically smart move on Doner’s part as McDonald’s is one of the major brands that truly strives to be multicultural in its marketing and advertising. It also is a move that avoid potential pitfalls such as the recent H&M ad and Dove debacle from last year.
Mike Ensroth rejoins Doner as EVP, Brand Leader, following a three-year stint at sister agency Assembly, where he was SVP, Account Leader. Previously, Ensroth spent 16 years at Doner running the Arby’s business. He will work out of the agency’s Detroit headquarters.
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Amy Murrin has been hired as VP, Brand Leader, joining Doner from Bandy Carroll Hellige Advertising in Louisville, KY, where she spent more than 15 years, most recently serving as VP of Strategic Planning. While at BCH, Murrin was responsible for the development of integrated multi-year marketing strategies and advertising execution across a number of McDonald’s co-ops.
Finally, James Brown joins Doner as Brand Leader and will be based in Atlanta, where he will oversee the McDonald’s Georgia co-op. Also, a veteran of the McDonald’s business, Brown comes to Doner from Moroch Partners in Atlanta, where he most recently served as Senior Account Supervisor. He previously held positions with LiveMusicTutor.com and Zizzo Group Marketing, both based in Milwaukee, WI, after launching his career at Gyro in New York.
Doner’s first work will hit market in the coming months.
Wonderful goes nuts for senior hires
The Wonderful Company’s in-house agency, the entity behind Wonderful Pistachios, FIJI Water, POM Wonderful & Wonderful Almonds, Wonderful Halos, Teleflora and JUSTIN Wine bolstered its creative department with two new senior hires.
Corey Bartha joins Wonderful Agency as Director of Integrated production, tasked with overseeing all content production. Amber Justis recently joined the agency as Executive Creative Director, managing creative work across on all Wonderful products, including Wonderful Pistachios and Wonderful Halos. Both Bartha and Justis will report directly to Wonderful Agency CCO, Darren Moran.
“Corey and Amber are two of the top talents in the business when it comes to creating brand experiences that get talked about and become part of pop culture,” Moran said in a statement on the agency website. “They join a rapidly growing creative department that’s stronger and more diverse than ever.”
Bartha will join The Wonderful Company effective January 22, upon leaving Publicis Seattle. An award-winning producer who has worked at shops like Ground Zero, Ogilvy and CP+B, Bartha has also held various top production positions at Wieden + Kennedy, including the Head of Integrated Production roles in both the U.S. and Amsterdam. He moved in-house in 2014 to head up all production at Quiksilver before joining Publicis in his current role in 2015.
“I’m excited to work with Darren and the incredible team he’s been building,” said Bartha. “The Wonderful Company’s healthy brands, the unique business model of the agency, and the innovative work they’ve been creating are all really inspiring.”
Justis has similarly impressive credentials. She is an Emmy-nominated Creative Director with over 19 years of experience developing famous global campaigns, she created the “Evolution of Barbie” work while at BBDO San Francisco, which introduced a new line of dolls of varying body types and skin tones to the world. The campaign garnered numerous industry accolades and snagged a Time Magazine cover story declaring “Barbie was back.”
Prior to joining BBDO, Justis held creative roles with Facebook, AKQA, Mekanism, Eleven, FCB, Ogilvy, Huge and Cliff Freeman, earning numerous awards including Cannes Lions, Clios, One Show and D&AD for clients like American Express, Cotton, Motorola, MTV, Trojan, Bravo, and Kodak.
“I’m honored to be part of it,” said Justis. “The kind of work we’re developing respects our audiences and their time: it’s entertaining, enlightening and always surprising. And it’s a big part of what makes the Wonderful brands so beloved.”
The creative work the two will put their stamp on will be seen in the not-so-near future as The Wonderful Company recently announced they will sit out of Super Bowl LII.
Contact Colin Costello at colin@reelchicago.com or follow him on Twitter @colincostello10.
