TBWA Bolsters New York Management Team

TBWA\Chiat\Day New York has appointed Leigh Baker: former Sapient Nitro Global Account Lead and Aki Spicer: ex-Director of Digital Strategy at Fallon, to the respective roles of Head of Account Management and Head of Digital Strategy.

 

Aki and Leigh are the first key hires under TBWA\Chiat\Day New York’s President Robert Harwood-Matthews who joined to lead the agency in August 2012.

 

Leigh will lead the account management team, taking responsibility for several key accounts in the agency. Aki will work closely with Ed Castillo (Head of Planning) to lead the digital strategy across all of the agency’s clients, including Jameson, GSK and Michelin. Leigh’s role will also see him act as Global Account Lead on a TBWA account, strengthening the agency’s global account leadership of clients including Nissan, McDonald’s, Apple, GSK and Pernod Ricard.

 

Leigh brings with him a hybrid background of traditional and digital experience spanning 19 years. Most recently, he worked as a Global Account Lead at SapientNitro New York, heading up the Digital Marketing and Content Platform assignments for global clients, Coca Cola and MARS. Prior to that, he worked on global assignments for Pernod Ricard at Publicis London and Nestle and AB Inbev at Publicis New York. Leigh’s appointment sees him return to TBWA, where he previously worked as an Account Director at TBWA\London.

 

Aki joins from Fallon, where he led the digital strategy for clients including Cadillac, Nestle Purina Petcare, H&R Block and NBC Universal. In addition to launching projects such as Cadillac.com (Fallon’s largest ongoing project for a client), Aki has been responsible for building Fallon’s IP and innovation pipeline. A constant public speaker, Aki has presented conferences including AAA Planning and Marketing Forward. He is also co-author of The Age of Conversation books and teacher of the first e-Marketing curriculum at the University of Minnesota. Prior to Fallon, Aki held the role Planning Manager at Vigilante, a youth/urban-focused idea thinktank, prior to which, he was VP of Marketing at hip-hop lifestyle wear brand, Rocawear/Native BDG, led by Damon Dash, Jay-Z and Biggs Burke.

 

Both Aki and Leigh’s diverse experience will play to both TBWA and Digital Arts Network, the organization that has unified around 700 digital specialists working within TBWA to offer capabilities including creative technology, e-commerce, social media, user experience, content, mobile, analytics and search.

 

Commenting on his appointment, Robert Harwood-Matthews said: “Leigh and Aki are two key and diverse talents joining the leadership team. They bring with them unique digital hybrid skills that will further strengthen TBWA’s offer in the changing integrated landscape.”

 

Leigh added: “The opportunity to return to such an iconic agency and work with Robert’s vision for TBWA was too good to pass by. There is genuine exciting change taking place, blending the established creative culture with its evolve diverse digital offering.”

 

Aki added: “This is an exciting age of change and opportunity and I'm eager to help invent the future with the TBWA\Chiat\Day team.”