Jonah Bloom, former editor of Ad Age, has joined Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal & Partners in New York to serve as executive director-content strategy.
In the role, which is newly created at the MDC Partners agency, Mr. Bloom will oversee content development with the aim of helping clients increase interaction with their existing audiences, as well as attract new audiences.
"A growing part of our jobs is to create the platforms and content that engage brands' communities continuously through both their entertainment value and their usefulness," said Ed Brojerdi, co-chief creative officer at KBS&P, in a statement. "Jonah has a history of creating engaging content at the speed that today's audiences demand, and a broad, strategic understanding of marketing that enables him to think through the best application of that content for the brand in question."
Mr. Bloom was formerly CEO and editor in chief of Breaking Media, a digital business-media company that housed five sites including AltTransport.com, Fashionista.com and Dealbreaker.com. Prior to his stint at Breaking Media, Mr. Bloom was the editor of Ad Age, where he spent eight years working to grow Ad Age's digital presence and expand readership. Before that, Mr. Bloom was the launch news editor and later editor in chief of Haymarket Media's PRWeek. He also spent time at several British media titles, including the Press Gazette, Accountancy Age and PrintWeek, and has written for a number of publications including The Guardian and The Financial Times.
Mr. Bloom said it was only in his last year or two at Ad Age -- probably in part because of the rise of social media -- that he "started to see that all the skills required to be an editor today--the ability to synthesize, filter, make sense of data, quickly create multi-platform content that people will interact with, market that content -- might be useful to brands."
"In today's world brands need to help consumers find them, rather than hoping that they can go and find the consumers sitting around feeling receptive to commercial messages somewhere in the splinterverse," Mr. Bloom told Ad Age. "We also know that the average cost per customer acquired is far lower when they discover the brand than when the brand has to go and discover them. In a way the job of great content is to enable the discovery, and make it a moment that connects the consumer to brand rather than annoying them or driving them away."
The content-strategy role is one that seems to be gaining momentum in adland. Agencies such as independent Barbarian Group and Interpublic Group of Cos.' Martin Agency have also hired dedicated content-strategy executives.