Arnold Worldwide Adds Chief Commercial Officer to Executive Team

BOSTON, Sept. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Arnold Worldwide has appointed Dave Dugan to the post of Chief Commercial Officer, a newly created position. Starting on October 17, Dugan will be based at the agency's Boston headquarters and will report to Andrew Benett, Global CEO of Arnold Worldwide and Global Chief Strategy Officer of Havas Worldwide.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110913/NE67537 )

As the Chief Commercial Officer, Dugan's role will primarily focus on two areas.  The first will be to build out current capabilities and identify opportunities to build new lines of business. By partnering with Arnold's leadership team, Dugan will target open areas for growth, as well as expand core capabilities ranging from CRM and brand experience to social and mobile development.

The second focus will be partnering with key clients to help grow their businesses. He will work closely with clients and agency teams to design and execute programs designed to evolve their business models and seek out new areas for organic growth.

"Dave is an exceptional leader. From both the agency and startup perspective, he's a rare breed with an incredible mix of business and brand strategy across many marketing channels. He's effectively handled complex business issues, from managing large, global brands to overseeing M&A processes, which will come into play as Arnold continues to expand both its global role with clients and international footprint," said Benett.

Dugan added, "Arnold has unbelievable momentum. From my first conversation, I knew that this is a completely different agency from what's in the market. I'm excited to bring my experience in digital and social into the fold. Clients are demanding that their agencies bring them faster, more innovative solutions. Injecting new platforms and technologies into Arnold's existing credentials is going to create a truly compelling combination for clients."

In recent months, Arnold Worldwide has placed heavy focus and investment on attracting top-caliber talent with the purpose of building a dynamic, innovative leadership team to drive fresh thinking and new ways of working. To achieve this, Arnold has attracted leaders who come from different types of companies, startups and backgrounds. The result is influential executive hires across key disciplines: Global Chief Digital Officer Matt Howell, former President of Modernista!, is integrating digital and technology throughout the creative process; EVP, Executive Director Elliott Seaborn joined from Digitas to provide digital-business counsel to Arnold's clients and help shape the evolution of the account management practice; and EVP, Director of Human Nature Lisa Borden is elevating the planning practice while partnering closely with the Business and Brand Strategy team.

Beyond this, Arnold has significantly grown its digital offering by hiring more than 60 digital specialists across user experience, social media, mobile and digital production from agencies including AKQA; Crispin Porter + Bogusky; Goodby, Silverstein & Partners; Digitas; and R/GA.

About Dave Dugan

Dugan joins Arnold Worldwide from leading word-of-mouth and social marketing company, BzzAgent, where he worked from 2008-2011, most recently as President. He managed client operations for the company, which leveraged a network of over 800,000 volunteer agents to deliver measurable, ROI-positive campaigns for Fortune 500 companies, including Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Kraft Foods, Johnson & Johnson and Philips Electronics, among others. Dugan played a central role in the recent acquisition of BzzAgent by dunnhumby Ltd. (a subsidiary of Tesco) in May 2011. While at BzzAgent, Dugan also sourced critical talent across key leadership roles including analytics, client services and sales, building a cohesive, smart team that became a critical component of the company's marketplace success.

From 1996-2008, Dugan held several senior strategic roles at Digitas and was influential in the agency's growth. As SVP, Corporate Strategy, Dugan reported to then-CEO David Kenny and played a formative role in the agency's $1.3B acquisition by the Publicis Groupe in 2006. Prior to the acquisition, he led a strategic investigation and created a growth plan for Digitas's international expansion and media planning and buying capabilities. After the acquisition, he spearheaded a cross-Publicis initiative to streamline media and search operations and served as agency ambassador across multiple Publicis companies to develop a seamless and integrated work process. Dugan also led a strategic analysis of the Brazilian digital agency market, culminating in the successful acquisition of Tribal in São Paulo, Brazil. Prior to this, Dugan held the roles of SVP, Relationship Management (2001-2005) and SVP, Strategy and Analytics (1996-2001), where he helped build the agency's Strategy and Analytics practice from scratch; led the Digital CRM workstream and managed a cross-disciplinary team of 50 for General Motors; and led over 25 business, brand and digital strategy projects for some of the world's largest companies, including Microsoft, AT&T, IBM, FedEx and Starwood.

Dugan started his career as an analyst and "Shop Foreman" for Gemini Consulting/MAC Group. He earned a B.A. in Business Economics from Brown University.

About Arnold Worldwide

Arnold is a global communications company and one of the top five most creatively awarded agencies of the past decade. We are proud to represent a diverse portfolio of clients, including Aetna, Amtrak, Carnival Cruise Lines, CVS/pharmacy, Dell, Fidelity Investments, The Hershey Company, Huntington Bank, Jack Daniel's, McDonald's, New Balance, Ocean Spray, Panasonic, Pearle Vision, Progressive, Sanofi-Aventis, Southern Comfort, Titleist, truth®, Tyson Foods, Unilever, Vertex, Volvo and many other great brands. Arnold delivers services across all communication touch points - advertising, digital, promotions, direct, design, branded content - and is part of Havas Worldwide with offices in Amsterdam, Boston, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Melbourne, Milan, Moscow, New York, Prague, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Sydney, Toronto and Washington DC.  www.arnoldworldwide.com

CONTACT: Eric Robertson, +1-212-463-1201

SOURCE Arnold Worldwide