Four Celebrated Media Executives to Start New Agency

NEW YORK, Sept. 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Four senior executives, including long-time OMD CEO Alan Cohen, announced today that they are starting a new, innovation-driven marketing agency named GIANT SPOON. The other founders include Jonathan Haber, OMD's Chief Innovation Officer, and Trevor Guthrie and Marc Simons, respective East and West Coast Directors of OMD's vaunted innovation, creative, technology unit, Ignition Factory.

GIANT SPOON fills the gap between large creative agencies and media agencies with an unparalleled focus on strategy and innovation across all platforms. The agency will not only service major brands but will have a suite of strategic and consulting offerings to support startups and media companies. GIANT SPOON will also provide boutique creative services and live at the place where marketing, innovation, technology and digital collide.

Founder Alan Cohen said, "GIANT SPOON is a future-forward marketing consultancy, focused on idea-centric strategy, innovation, and intelligence across all platforms with technology and digital at the core.  We think broadly -- media, to us, is anything people can see, hear, touch, feel, or even smell.   Unlike other agencies, GIANT SPOON is a force multiplier that plugs directly into our partners' marketing departments, boosting the creative thinking and maximizing the output of the other agencies on the client's roster." Mr. Cohen has held the distinction as the longest serving CEO of a U.S. media agency, presiding as CEO of OMD since 2008. During his tenure, OMD had five years of consecutive record-breaking revenue, winning over 30 new clients, adding almost 500 employees, winning six agency of the year distinctions from Advertising Age and Adweek, and creating the most robust suite of specialty offerings available at any advertising agency in the world. Mr. Cohen previously worked at Interpublic, ABC and NBC in a variety of marketing, digital and innovation roles.

In addition to Mr. Cohen, Jonathan Haber, recently honored by Advertising Age as one of the Top 40 People Under 40 in advertising will also be helming the new venture. Mr. Haber explained, "Our commitment centers on delivering not just bold ideas but also expertly executed results. While we celebrate the transformative power of ideas, we are not professional pontificators.  We are doers."

The other founders, Marc Simons and Trevor Guthrie, are highly sought after innovators. Mr. Guthrie was credited with Media Magazine's Innovation of the Year for a weekend-long hackathon event and for producing the highly acclaimed OMD Incubator program, while Mr. Simons was recently honored as one of MIN's most intriguing people for his creation of the world's first web-connected magazine ad. Together, this group has created over 60 award-winning campaigns working with nearly 100 of the Fortune 500 companies. "We see the brands that we work with craving more senior strategic guidance, more intelligence on ways to reach consumers in new ways, more breakthrough ideas, and more reinvention of the old process to get the most thinking out of media partners.  We are about creating solutions, deploying passion and creativity to turn a chaotic business landscape into a playground of opportunities for clients," said Mr. Guthrie.

Mr. Simons, who has spent the last ten years building exclusive relationships with the venture capital community and startups such as Flipboard said, "Partnering with us opens a new world of marketing possibilities with the most exciting new companies out of Silicon Valley, ideas that will reinvent the way brands use traditional platforms, and actionable intelligence on every major trend changing the way brands interact with consumers."  In addition to startups, media companies will be able to tap GIANT SPOON for guidance in creating leading edge strategies grounded in innovation for their clients.

GIANT SPOON will remain independent with a minority investment by Omnicom Media Group, which will serve as a strategic partner.

GIANT SPOON will be based in New York and Los Angeles and will serve clients nationwide.

For more information about GIANT SPOON contact [email protected] or visit www.giantspoon.com.

SOURCE GIANT SPOON