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LBi hires New Global Head of Audiences and Engagement

Posted by LBi January 9th, 2012

LBi, the largest independent global marketing and technology agency with operations in 16 countries, today announced it has hired Paul Beck as Global Head of Audiences and Engagement.

Beck’s hire is effective immediately, and he will work out of the New York office. Joining LBi’s Executive team, he will report to LBi President Judith Carr in the US and LBi Chief Media Officer Lyndsay Menzies at LBi Group. This new role will see Beck focus on continuing to enhance and grow the already well-established media services, CRM, and analytics offered by LBi to clients including Seamless, J&J, Dyson, MoneyGram International, and Focus Features. This expansion coincides with the recent acquisition of Mr. Youth. Beck will lead the integration of Mr. Youth community management and distribution offering, rolling this out to Health, Moms and additional audience sectors.

“As the digital landscape evolves, we are seeing the need for brands to become publishers with clear content and engagement strategies. Paul will be involved in further shaping our global media and content offerings, and how they dovetail with our IP and proprietary distribution platforms,” said Lyndsay Menzies, Chief Media Officer of LBi.

“We are thrilled to have Paul joining us at LBi. He brings years of experience and thought leadership to this new role. Over the last 12 months, we’ve been focusing on our media, CRM and analytics serves and the role these services have in underpinning our large client engagements. Paul will be responsible for promoting our blended media offering to clients, as well as embedding and maturing our next-generation search proposition, which will provide massive growth opportunities,” said Judith Carr, President, LBi.

Beck comes to LBi from lllumination Entertainment where he was the Executive Vice-President Worldwide Marketing, and was involved in launching the films Despicable Me and HOP. He was responsible for the filmmaker’s interests including delivering best practices, creative and innovation to the research, strategy development and production of marketing and advertising worldwide.

Before Illumination Entertainment, Paul was the Senior Partner Worldwide Executive Director of Digital at Ogilvy where he was responsible for Global Leadership in Interactive Marketing, Advertising & Social Media. He worked across IBM, American Express, Cisco and Dove, and launched new product offerings for the agency.

“LBi is an impact agency, plain and simple. Where so many digital and social agencies struggle with the execution of new ideas, it’s a dream to come to a company with the key pieces of the digital/audience service puzzle in place and working successfully. Add brains, talent, technology, grit, entrepreneurship and a progressive global culture, and anyone can see why LBi has such an impressive client list.” said Paul Beck, Global Head of Audiences and Engagements, LBi.

About LBi

LBi is a global marketing and technology agency, expert at blending strategic, creative, media and technical expertise to build business value. We help companies of all shapes and sizes decide what’s next for their business – and then we take them there. Along with our media arm bigmouthmedia, we define and execute transformational digital strategies for clients including BT, Coca-Cola, E.ON, Lloyds TSB, Play.com, SAB Miller and Virgin Atlantic. Across our 27 offices in 16 countries, there are more than 2000 digital specialists collaborating with brands to enrich people’s lives via service design, branded content, mobile, CRM and social media. We also set the pace in digital display, search, affiliate marketing, usability and analytics. There are many things that make LBi unique, but if we had to choose one it would be our ability to bring together diverse teams of experts to suit any brief. We call this blending, and it’s the reason why all types of organizations – from famous global businesses to disruptive start-ups – choose LBi to help make their brands desirable wherever, whenever and however people choose to engage with them.

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Contacts
Christine O’Donnell
646-792-6114
christine.odonnell@lbi.com

Gareth Jones
+44 (0) 207 063 6263
gareth.jones@lbi.com

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LBi Acquires Mr.Youth

Posted by LBi November 14th, 2011

PRESS RELEASE

LBi Acquires Social Media and Marketing Agency Mr Youth
Largest Independent Global Marketing and Technology Agency Taps Mr Youth to Strengthen Social Media, Experiential and Word of Mouth Marketing Offering.

Amsterdam / New York – 14 November 2011 – LBi International N.V. (NYSE Euronext: LBI), the largest independent global marketing and technology agency with operations in 16 countries, today announced that it has acquired leading social media and marketing agency Mr Youth in the US.

The acquisition perfectly fits LBi’s philosophy of blending marketing and technology services in-house. Mr Youth’s integration into LBi adds breadth and depth to the agency’s already significant social media offering, capabilities made more urgent through several significant client wins this year. Including a performance-contingent pay-out structure, the transaction is valued between $40-50 million and will immediately contribute positively to LBi’s earnings per share.

Founded in 2002 by Matt Britton, New York-based Mr Youth assists clients in driving engagement with the new generation of consumers and creating lasting brand advocacy through non-traditional channels including social media, experiential, and word of mouth marketing. The agency specializes in creating interactive brand experiences. It connects consumers through shared passions and interests, empowers them and encourages peer-to-peer recommendations with friends, families and others across the social graph.

Over the years, Mr Youth saw rapid expansion of its business and has consistently grown greater than 20 per cent year on year over the past three years, with 2011 annual sales expected to come in at approximately $25 million. The agency was recently ranked 7th among Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Companies in Advertising and Marketing” in the world.

Luke Taylor, CEO of LBi said: “Globally, we are seeing revolutionary change in consumer buying behaviour. Our clients are therefore driving rapid growth of social media services within LBi, and the US leads the world market in this field. We believe Mr Youth is head and shoulders above its competitors due to both the quality of it people and the strength of its proprietary technology platforms. After conducting a thorough search for the right agency, we are very pleased to welcome Matt and his incredible team to LBi.”

LBi will incorporate Mr Youth’s proprietary technology platforms and distribution channels into their own intellectual property deployed across their top client relationships. The proprietary platforms Mr Youth bring to this deal include RepNation (www.repnation.com), a word of mouth marketing platform supported by over 125,000 influential brand advocate members, and CollegeFest (www.collegefest.com), the nation’s largest back to school festival and localized student marketing platform, an on-demand consumer participation platform that was spun-off as a standalone entity in August 2011.

“It was clear the moment we met with LBi that there was the potential to do something big. Their global footprint, creative excellence, and technical proficiency will be a powerful mix when combined with our intellectual property, social media marketing model, and deep domain expertise in marketing to millennials. We are incredibly excited about our future together,” said Matt Britton, CEO of Mr Youth.

Mr Youth has 140 full-time employees and expects net sales of approximately $25 million in 2011. Historical annual sales growth has consistently been high with historical EBITDA margins in line or somewhat above LBi group levels. The deal is financed from LBi’s available cash resources and existing credit facilities. Consolidation is expected to take place as of early November 2011.

Mr Youth will operate as a division of LBi. Matt Britton will remain CEO of Mr Youth and will report directly to LBi CEO, Luke Taylor.

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LBi Launches LBi Health

Posted by LBi July 13th, 2011

LBi, Global Marketing and Technology Agency, Launches LBi Health

LBi Health empowers brands to create “Connections that Matter”
with healthcare decision-makers

New York, NY, July 13, 2011 –LBi Health, an innovative, multichannel healthcare marketing and technology agency with roots in the digital world, is launching today to help healthcare clients thrive in an increasingly complex, customer-empowered marketing environment. The agency, which is part of global agency, LBi, is headquartered in New York and led by Managing Director, Gregg Fisher, who was previously Client Partner at LBi.

Healthcare has been an integral part of LBi’s history with over 15 years experience and long-standing, strategic partnerships with industry leaders including Bristol-Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson, Roche, AstraZeneca, WebMD and Massachusetts General Hospital.

“We’re extremely excited to launch LBi Health and expand the breadth of our healthcare capabilities” said Frank Pedersen, CEO of LBi US. “Gregg and his team are passionate, healthcare marketing innovators who understand how to build brands in a customer-empowered marketing environment.”

LBi Health was founded to create meaningful connections between healthcare brands and customers, including providers, patients and payors. The agency develops valuable content and service experiences, and integrates them across an increasing array of physical, digital, mobile and social channels.

“A tougher access environment and the explosion of new information channels and resources means healthcare marketers must shift their thinking to become more customer-focused,” Fisher said. “LBi Health is dedicated to creating “connections that matter” between health brands and customers. We specialize in building customer experiences that add value to brand and customer alike by strengthening health outcomes.”

LBi Health senior executives are pioneers in the digital, multi-channel, and relationship marketing fields, and have played leadership roles in shaping the evolution of customer-centric healthcare marketing.

Fisher, a leader in creating customer-centric digital innovations within the healthcare industry, launched one of the industry’s first professional CRM programs and one of the first successful DTC user-generated, content programs. Fisher also advised on the creation of a prototype of a professional health media business that was later sold to Medscape for $40 million.

In addition to Fisher, Mike Hartman will serve as LBi Health’s Group Creative Director and Tom Iannucci as Group Technical Director. Hartman joined LBi in 2010 and previously worked in digital creative leadership posts for WPP’s Chemistry/Grey and Digitas, while Iannucci previously was Senior Director of Information Technology for KnowledgePoint360, a global healthcare information and medical education firm.

Additional information about LBi Health can be found at www.lbi.com/health.

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LBi Hires Maryann Pulvirenti as Client Services Director

Posted by LBi April 12th, 2011

Leader in Integrated and Digital Advertising to Oversee Growing Roster of Client Relationships in the US

NEW YORK, NY, April 12, 2011 –LBi, the independent global marketing and technology agency with offices in New York, Atlanta, London and Amsterdam, today announced that it has appointed Maryann Pulvirenti to the newly created role of Client Services Director for its New York office. Effective April 25, Pulvirenti will oversee the 300-person office’s client services offering for clients including Sony Ericsson, SeamlessWeb, Mastercard and GE. Pulvirenti, who will report directly to Judith Carr, President of LBi US, will serve on the leadership team of the agency’s New York flagship office and play a key role in shaping the direction of the agency.

“This new role for LBi was created to accommodate our explosive growth in the US over the last year. As our client roster expands, it is incredibly important to us that we remain dedicated to growing long-term, sustainable and mutually respectful client relationships,” said Carr, who also serves as Managing Director, LBi New York. “We were thrilled to find the perfect executive to lead this initiative in Maryann. She will be instrumental in helping us continue to blend our secret sauce of insight, media, creative and technology to create business value.”

Pulvirenti joins LBi from Euro RSCG 4D where she served as Director, Digital Client Services. At Euro RSCG 4D, Pulvirenti was the global client lead on Volvo’s global website and ran the Volvo Car’s North American relationship. From 2007 to 2010, Pulvirenti was integral to helping to expand the agency’s digital practice by 300% through both organic growth and new business attraction. Throughout her 14-year career at Euro RSCG, she worked on a variety of accounts, including Charles Schwab, Clearasil, MCI, New Balance, Polaroid and Novartis. Pulvirenti launched her career in management at Banker Trust Company, and went on to serve in account management roles at Merkley Newman Harty.

“I am so impressed by the enthusiasm, energy and talent of everyone on the LBi leadership team,” said Pulvirenti. “My experience in partnering with the agency for Volvo Cars was what first opened my eyes to the talent and innovation here. That, combined with the great people who work here and LBi’s impressive roster of blue-chip clients, makes this an incredibly unique opportunity.”

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For further information please contact:

Rachel Hammerman, Powell Communications

212.966.6585 / rhammerman@powellny.com

About LBi
LBi is the world’s leading marketing and technology agency, blending insight, media, creativity and technical expertise to create business value for brands. Across LBi’s network of 24 offices in 16 countries, there are over 1,800 digital experts working to help brands create momentum and cultural relevance across a range of disciplines including advertising, branded content, digital marketing, user-experience design, media strategy and analytics. LBi specializes in bringing together diverse teams of digital experts to solve complex business problems for brands. We call this blending, and it’s the ’special sauce’ that makes our full service proposition supremely useful to our clients.

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LBi Strengthens Strategy, Account Teams

Posted by Maria A March 22nd, 2011

We’re excited to announce several senior additions to our Atlanta office.

Julie Orr joins the Atlanta office as a senior strategist. Julie has great experience developing innovative corporate communications strategies for companies such as IBM, The Coca-Cola Company, InterContinental Hotels Group, Holiday Inn, Cartoon Network, Cingular, and Viacom.

On the Account side, Randi Drinkwater also joins the Atlanta office as Account Director. Randi has served in both corporate and agency settings, and has led multiple businesses in the development of digital marketing accounts, including directing end-to-end marketing services for Cisco Systems, IT systems strategy for the Department of Defense, and 360-degree marketing strategy for IBM’s eServer business.

As Director of User Experience, new addition Kelly Pentecost will lead the information architecture strategy and development for a variety of web initiatives. Kelly has more than a decade of experience in user experience design, usability science and IA, and has executed major digital initiatives for The Coca-Cola Company, Newell-Rubbermaid, Philips Electronics, and the American Cancer Society.

“We’re fortunate to have added such a rich array of talent to our team,” said Lisa Harper, Managing Director of LBi Atlanta. “Julie’s strategic vision, Randi’s managerial acumen, and Kelly’s sense of consumer experience, will dramatically strengthen the depth of our insights and the quality of our work.”

To read the full release, click here.

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