BBH unites New York and Los Angeles offices; new unit will be run by trio of New York execs

Publicis Groupe's BBH is uniting its New York and Los Angeles offices, along with BBH Entertainment, into a single unit called BBH USA, and has tapped a trio of New York office executives to run it. BBH USA will be run by President Amani Duncan, Chief Creative Officer Rafael Rizuto and Chief Strategy Officer Tom Callard, who held those same titles in the New York office. While the New York and Los Angeles offices will be retained, their capabilities will be integrated and operate under a single P&L. According to a BBH spokesman, the LA office CEO Frances Great and Chief Creative Officer Ned McNeilage have “decided to leave to pursue professional opportunities.” The unification of the two offices was due to the momentum of the New York office Rizuto told Ad Age. Buy your ticket for the Ad Age Small Agency virtual conference Aug. 2-4 at AdAge.com/saca2021. “This is all about how you can make the BBH offer stronger,” Rizuto says. “Due to all this success from New York. I think they just wanted us to sprinkle the magic across the country. It's always been New York and LA separated as two entities, that now is going to be under one leadership, we're still going to have the two offices working on their own but it's going to be way more integrated.” One example of this integration is going to involve incorporating BBH Entertainment, which is the agency’s entertainment division that previously resided solely under the LA office, across more clients. In April BBH Entertainment helped develop a Hulu exclusive mobile photography reality series titled “Exposure.” The agency owns one-third of the intellectual property of the show which is a model the agency will look to continue to replicate. “We're structuring deals so that we own a percentage or 100% of the IP,” Duncan says. "Now we have this enhanced offering, and we have proof of concept through the success of the Samsung Exposure show with Hulu. There's an unbranded Netflix show that will be coming out next year. Not only are they benefiting from our momentum, but we're also benefiting from the momentum from BBH Entertainment, because we can proudly say, ‘We have proof of concept.’ which is what all brands want. It’s just a mutually beneficial, strategic decision to just bring everything under one umbrella.” This is a significant move for the trio that hasn’t been working together long. Duncan joined the agency in September, Rizuto joined last April and Callard was promoted to CSO of the New York office after previously serving as head of planning. Despite the short-lived partnership between the trio, also referred to internally as ART, there has been some significant work and new business wins coming out of the New York office. Buy your ticket for the Ad Age Small Agency virtual conference Aug. 2-4 at AdAge.com/saca2021. Recently the office won brand work for LinkedIn, Martell, and Google Shopping which will now be under BBH USA. The trio also worked on critically acclaimed campaigns such as the “Glass Ceiling Breaker” campaign, which depicted Vice President Kamala Harris in a glass portrait in front of the Lincoln Memorial and the agency’s “Black-Owned Friday” Google campaign, featuring artists Wyclef Jean and Ari Lennox. The LA office has also produced some notable work for Mattel's Barbie like its “A Doll Can Help Change the World” and the “The Future of Pink is Green” campaigns. Another focus for the new leadership team is to continue hiring diverse talent as the agency is in the midst of filling nearly 20 positions. Currently, the New York office has around 90 employees and the LA office including BBH Entertainment has 20 employees. “We've been pulling in some pretty incredible talent, really incredible top-notch talent. but the landscape is what it is,” Duncan says. “The freelance market is ruling the industry right now. I think people want that flexibility. I speak to a lot of agency presidents and CEOs and we're all commiserating. We're all searching for the same people, and we're all talking to the same people because the pool really isn't that big, and we're all struggling.” The agency will be releasing work for Linkedin in October, is gearing up for a second “Black-Owned Friday” campaign, creating work for Martell’s cognac brand Blue Swift and is helping Google ideate ways for the brand to integrate within the WNBA’s 25th anniversary season through various platforms after Google agreed to a partnership with the league in May. Contributing: Ann-Christine Diaz Want to learn more about agencies? The Ad Age Small Agency Conference & Awards is the only industry event specifically created for independent shops of fewer than 150 full-time employees. Buy your ticket for the Aug. 2-4 virtual event at AdAge.com/saca2021.

BBH unites New York and Los Angeles offices; new unit will be run by trio of New York execs

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