Jeff Jones Joins McKinney as President

    DURHAM, N.C., April 11 /PRNewswire/ -- McKinney announced today that
 Jeff Jones, 38, previously executive vice president of global marketing for
 Gap, has been named president. In this role, he succeeds Brad Brinegar, 51,
 who will remain chief executive officer and also become chairman.
     "We have now made the leap from respected regional agency to recognized
 national player and from strong creative shop to an agency recognized as
 one of the industry leaders in creative integration," said Brinegar. "The
 job now is to make sure we keep moving forward, growing even stronger as we
 grow larger. So I am thrilled that I could offer this job to Jeff Jones.
 He's been my colleague and both client and competitor to McKinney. He
 admires what we've accomplished and is eager to be part of leading us to
 the next level."
     "With teamwork and collaboration being so important to me and this
 business, having existing relationships with the partners and key creative
 leaders helped make this an easy decision," said Jones. "But what truly
 impressed me the most about McKinney was how focused the teams are in
 creating meaningful and relevant brand conversations, not simply making ad
 campaigns. They didn't talk to me about "integration," they showed me teams
 of specialists working together to solve problems. In fact, McKinney spent
 a year designing and building their space to facilitate this behavior."
     From March 2004 through December 2005, Jones was executive vice
 president of global marketing for Gap where he was a member of the brand's
 executive leadership team. During his tenure he co-led the wholesale
 reinvention of the Gap store experience that is currently underway across
 America. He built tools and systems to support better marketing execution
 in over 1,200 retail stores in North America and helped design a global
 marketing organization to shift more autonomy and decision-making into
 local countries. Given the state of the brand, Jones was a strong advocate
 for moving Gap away from traditional marketing communications and was the
 driver behind such ideas as watchmechange.com, the cinema film directed by
 Spike Jonze that featured the destruction of a Gap store, as well as
 partnerships with iTunes, Kodak and Borders Books, and multiple, successful
 guerilla marketing programs like the Ambassador Program and GapBody Bra Bar
 Tour.
     Prior to joining Gap, Jones was president and chief executive officer
 of LB Works, a boutique agency owned by Leo Burnett. From late 2001 through
 early 2004, he was credited with creating a dynamic, winning culture and
 adding more than $200 million in billings to the agency through new clients
 such as EarthLink, Gateway, Lexmark and Starbucks.
     Before joining LB Works, Jones helped establish a technology-consulting
 firm called POV Partners in 1998. In very short order, the team grew POV to
 three cities and over 100 consultants, positioning the business for a
 successful acquisition by publicly traded Whittman-Hart in 1999. Later that
 year, Whittman-Hart acquired USWeb/CKS and with it then-subsidiary McKinney
 & Silver. In March 2000, the merged companies were relaunched by McKinney
 as marchFIRST. McKinney was marchFIRST's agency of record and Jones was
 McKinney's client.
     "Jeff is someone who understands clients as only someone who's been one
 can, but who loves the agency business too much to stay away," added
 Brinegar. "He's been integrally involved with technology since the early
 days of integrated marketing, but has a deep sensitivity for consumers and
 brands. He's an entrepreneur who is comfortable navigating huge
 organizations. And he is someone who is not afraid to lead, but has earned
 respect for doing so in a way that creates eager followers."
     Early in his career, Jones worked with some of the world's most
 valuable brands. He spent over two years at The Coca-Cola Company
 developing marketing programs for the company's premier casual dining
 customer, Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, where he managed the relationship
 globally. Also while at Coke, Jones partnered with Brown-Forman to develop
 and market the Jack & Coke trademark.
     His career began at Leo Burnett where, over many years, he helped
 create business-building and award-winning programs for brands such as
 Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight, Oldsmobile Bravada, Miller Lite, Lite Ice, Cheer,
 Bold, Era and new Procter & Gamble oral care products.
     Jones is a graduate of University of Dayton. Over the years he has been
 a member of Young Presidents' Organization (YPO) and served on the board
 for various non-profit organizations including Chicago Children's Advocacy
 Center and Hanna Neil Center for Children.
     About McKinney
     McKinney is a marketing communications firm that is going beyond the
 standard definition of campaign to create richer conversations between
 brands and their best prospects. Headquartered in Durham, North Carolina,
 McKinney's clients include Audi of America, Full Frame Documentary Film
 Festival, The NASDAQ Stock Market, Oasys Mobile, Inc., Sony Electronics,
 Polaris Industries, Qwest Communications, Rare Hospitality and Travelocity.
 McKinney is an independent operating unit of Havas, a NASDAQ-listed firm
 that is one of the world's largest communications companies.
     Over the past three years, McKinney ranks fourth in the nation for Gold
 EFFIE Awards. Recently, McKinney earned CREATIVITY MAGAZINE's Campaign of
 the Year for Audi's The Art of the H3ist. The agency was also named to
 BUSINESSWEEK magazine's "Web Smart 50" and took Best of Show at both the
 MIXX Awards, sponsored by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, and the
 Yahoo! Creative Summit.
      CONTACT:
      Janet Northen
      McKinney /
      919.313.4062
      jnorthen@mckinney-silver.com
 
 

SOURCE McKinney