Stephen Goldblatt Heads from EVB to Mullen

In a well-orchestrated pair of moves, EVB is losing top creative Stephen Goldblatt to Mullen, but he's being replaced immediately by CP&B's Steve Babcock. Mr. Goldblatt was recruited by Mullen Chief Creative Officer Mark Wenneker to boost the quality of the digital creative product both in Mullen's Boston headquarters and its relatively new San Francisco office. All together, he'll be overseeing about 60 developers, creative technologists, and user-experience specialists. Before going over to EVB where he served as executive creative director, Mr. Goldblatt spent eight years at Omnicom sibling shop Goodby Silverstein & Partners. There he was best known for work on HP. At EVB Mr. Goldblatt worked on "Gagaville" for Zynga, Facebook Studio, "Mob the Rainbow" for Skittles, and "Serenading Unicorn" for Juicy Fruit. At Mullen the clients he'll be working on include Google, JetBlue, iRobot and U.S. Cellular. For Messrs. Goldblatt and Wenneker, it means uniting in the workplace after a long friendship; the two have known each other for years, and Mr. Goldblatt was in Mr. Wenneker's wedding. "What Stephen has done at EVB in the last four years has been awesome to watch," said Mr. Wenneker in a statement. "This was an idea born out of trust, friendship and admiration. We have a massive group of digital talent waiting to be led. Now we have that leader." "Mullen has the right amount of altitude to be able to take risks other agencies can't," said Mr. Goldblatt in a statement. "We'll have the opportunity to put into practice the learning from the past four years by developing work for clients across all platforms that originates from a social insight. I'm excited to work with a team that has a shared vision of doing innovative work. And I'm excited to work closely with Mark." Typically in adland, the departure of a senior creative leader leaves a hole at the top that requires a lengthy search. But in this case, EVB was able to recruit to immediately replace Mr. Goldblatt's role, netting CP&B's VP-executive creative director, Steve Babcock. Mr. Babcock has spent six years at the Boulder-based agency, working on Best Buy, Volkswagen, Amex Open, and perhaps most notably, Domino's "Pizza Tracker." By joining EVB, Mr. Babcock has committed to opening a creative office in Boulder, but also spending time in San Francisco at EVB's headquarters and in London, from where EVB handles global social media for Chivas Regal. Said EVB President Daniel Stein in a separate statement: "He understands the relationship between digital innovative and traditional fundamentals better than anyone I have met. He also fits into our startup culture perfectly, which is hugely important to us." "I was really attracted to their innovative spirit," said Mr. Babcock. "Not just in terms of creative output, but also in regards to the way they conduct their business. There's something really exciting about an established and successful agency that still has the fire of a start-up." Both agencies were recently honored in Ad Age's Agency A-List issue; Interpublic Group of Cos.' Mullen was on the list of the top 10 agencies, while Omnicom Group's EVB was the No. 1 standout.

Stephen Goldblatt Heads from EVB to Mullen

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