The Many Elevates Melissa Cabral to Head Up Strategy

LA Agency The Many has realigned and elevated its strategy team with the promotion of Melissa Cabral to group strategy director to lead the growth of the department. The announcement includes the promotion of Kristin 'KB' Busk to director of social innovation and the addition of Andrew Cunningham as social strategy director.

Cabral is tasked with unifying The Many’s diverse strategy skill sets across brand performance, research and data, and social, to collaboratively unlock brand tensions and insights. She joined the agency mid-2018 from CP+B and has a breadth of experience working with brands across categories and in various stages of their life cycle, such as Spindrift, Stitch Fix and Google. She is a graduate of the VCU Brandcenter and former Adjunct Professor at Miami Ad School.

Part of her vision is to foster an environment that encourages diverse perspectives and ways of thinking, “I believe if you want to make culturally relevant work, you need to have the utmost respect for the human experience,” says Melissa. “As a woman of colour who identifies as queer, I’m proud to be part of an agency where I can bring my whole self to work every day and have that be seen and recognised.”

The move will free up The Many’s founding partner, strategy, Christian Jacobsen, to focus on the continued growth and brand building of the agency itself following its name change from Mistress to The Many earlier this year.

“Cabral has a knack for getting to a brand’s essence so quickly and poignantly, with a purity of focus that makes her an incredibly gifted strategist,” said Christian. “She’s been an integral part of successful pitches, and has also been able to win over the confidence of the entire agency and our clients like I’ve never seen before.”

One of the first moves under Melissa's watch introduces a new strategy focus for The Many as Kristin Busk, better known as KB, shifts from social strategy director to director of social innovation. A role that is equally as strategic as it is creative, KB pushes the agency and its clients to take creative risks and use platforms not only for what they are known for, but for what is yet to be explored. Reporting dually into brand strategy and The Many’s team of executive creative directors, the new role blends her wealth of experience engaging influencers and unleashing social strategy with thoughtful creative.

“I refuse for our agency to pitch the same old social extensions,” said KB, director of social innovation at The Many. “We’re above the curve when it comes to advertising, and today the mediums vary so widely - a tweet can be just as big as a TV spot.”

New to the agency, Andrew Cunningham slides into KB’s former role as social strategy director. Most recently, Cunningham was associate director of social and content strategy at Campbell Ewald and has also led the strategic social marketing practices for agencies such as AKQA, Huge and CP+B. He brings with him over 10 years experience leading social strategy for brands such as Audi, Cap’n Crunch, Infiniti, Netflix, Maserati, Volvo, Verizon, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Gap. At The Many, he will focus on marrying a human behaviour-first mindset with traditional brand strategy.

Andrew first met The Many two years ago and while the timing wasn’t right to join the team then, “ever since, I’ve known this would be something I’d love to come back to,” Andrew says. “What’s pervasive in the industry is assuming that social’s major players and user behaviours are well established, so it’s important to be in touch with the way influencers and actual people are using platforms rather than force-fitting a brand message.”