ADWEEK/Erick Oster: Mother Forms Global Partnership With The Secret Little Agency

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Mother Forms Global Partnership With The Secret Little Agency
It includes a joint venture to form Mother Shanghai
By Erik Oster
|
15 hours ago
Mother and TSLA are teaming up.
Photo Illustration: Dianna McDougall; Sources: Facebook: Mother New York, The Secret Little Agency (TSLA)

Mother Holdings Ltd. is in advanced negotiations to form a partnership with The Secret Little Agency (TSLA), the company announced.

Upon completion, the partnership would result in a global strategic partnership between TSLA Shanghai and Mother, as well as a joint venture in Shanghai to form Mother Shanghai. The partnership would create an independent global network for Mother and TSLA across North America (with offices in New York and Los Angeles), South America (Buenos Aires), Europe (London) and Asia (Singapore and Shanghai).

TSLA launched 10 years ago and has worked with clients including Netflix, Nestle and Zespri. The agency’s current leadership team of Nicholas Ye, Julia Wei, Hanyi Lee, Eunice Tan, Mavis Neo and Kris Kam will remain in place following the partnership, with support from Mother’s creative and strategic leaders.

Mother launched in 1996 and works with clients including Ikea, KFC, Stella Artois, Baileys, Target and MoneySuperMarket across offices in London, New York, Los Angeles and Buenos Aires.

“We’ve had a crush on Mother for some time now. Mother doesn’t just create great work. They move culture,” TSLA founder Nicholas Ye said in a statement. “To do this sustainably, independently and together with friends from three other continents, is a future we’re definitely looking forward to.”

“The culture, outlook and ambition of Mother and The Secret Little Agency are uncannily similar. The one obvious difference is geography,” added Mother Holdings global CEO Michael Wall. “We have been working on an informal basis for a little while now. It quickly became evident that as a bigger, joined up family we’d be able to offer our people and our clients even greater opportunities.”
Erik Oster
@ErikDOster
Erik Oster is a staff writer for Adweek.
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Leadership & Talent
Merkle Americas Hires 30-Year Agency Veteran Away From DigitasLBi
Joanne Zaiac will serve as chief client officer
By Lindsay Rittenhouse
|
4 days ago
Joanne Zaiac is named chief client officer of Merkle Americas.

Performance marketing agency Merkle, a part of the Dentsu Aegis Network, has hired 30-plus-years industry vet Joanne Zaiac as chief client officer of its Americas division.

In her role, Zaiac will handle development of the strategic vision and value proposition for Merkle’s account management and client services. Previously, Zaiac was chief operating officer for global digital agency DigitasLBi North America, a Publicis Groupe subsidiary, but she told Adweek that the majority of her career was in client services.

“Client services has been a part of my DNA,” Zaiac said. “I’ve always been very passionate about client services. The chief operating role was a good detour and experience but I longed to return to my passion.”

After spending a year away from client services, Zaiac said she’s interested to learn how new data capabilities and tech offerings have complicated what companies want from their agencies.  She touted Merkle for using tech to the best of its abilities and “truly delivering” personalized services to each client.

“A lot of people are talking about it but Merkle is actually walking the walk,” Zaiac added.

Zaiac spent more than 18 years in senior leadership roles at DigitasLBi. Before being appointed COO of its North America division, she was president of DigitasLBi New York for more than 10 years. Zaiac also sits on the board of directors for shoe retailer DSW and nonprofit Junior Achievement New York.

“Joanne is a proven client relationship leader and strong developer of talent and high performing teams,” Craig Dempster, Merkle Americas president, said in a statement. “Her business acumen and expertise in the digital marketing and advertising industries will be a tremendous asset in providing strategic counsel to our growing roster of clients.”

The appointment of Zaiac builds on Merkle’s focus to increase diversity within its walls. Over the last 10 months, the agency said it hired several women leaders including Coleen Kuehn as Merkle CMO, Anne-Marie Schaffer as general manager of the agency’s travel media and entertainment practice and Claire Billings as the Europe division’s vice president of marketing.

“It’s encouraging to see more women be a broader part of the mix and employees and clients value that,” Zaiac noted.

Zaiac is an executive member of activist organization She Runs It, formerly known as Advertising Women of New York, which works to elevate and support professional women.

Merkle describes itself as a leading global tech- and data-driven performance marketing agency and provides consulting to Fortune 1000 companies.

Lindsay Rittenhouse
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