Martha Stewart, Lifetime, Turner Networks Veteran Lee Heffernan Returns Home to Join Augusta's Fast-Growing Wier / Stewart Advertising As Agency Development Director

AUGUSTA, Ga., June 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- One of the media world's most experienced marketing innovators, Lee Heffernan, is returning to her hometown to lead the growth of the highly creative and inventive agency, Wier / Stewart Advertising.

Regarded as one of the top marketing executives in the media industry, Heffernan has held key positions with many leading brands including Lifetime Television, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Turner Networks (TNT, TBS, CNN, Cartoon Network), AMC Network's WE: Women's Entertainment and in-cinema advertising leader Screenvision.  Since 2003, as the head of her own marketing agency, Heffernan has executed a wide range of programs, from brand development to consumer marketing and events, for clients including Oxygen, WWE, Turner Broadcasting, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, and iVillage.

"Lee is the perfect fit for our agency, the right person at the right time coming to the right place," stated agency co-founder and Creative Director Alex Wier. Agency co-founder and Studio Director Daniel Stewart added:  "We're hoping, with Lee's connections and experience, we can grow to be one of those sought-after creative boutiques bringing these big ideas to big companies, right here from downtown Augusta."

"In my career, I've hired dozens of agencies, from the biggest names to trendy creative upstarts," added Heffernan. "Alex and Daniel and their team deliver like a big agency, with the kind of laid back Georgia hospitality that, for a client, makes working with creative like ours the best part of their day."  

Wier / Stewart has made their mark in the advertising industry with their strategic but often irreverent approach to creative. In an innovative campaign for the local Augusta fried chicken chain "Wife Saver", the agency launched a grass-roots humorous initiative called "Flipthebirds.com" to change the state bird from the Brown Thrasher to the edible, economy boosting, Cornish Chicken. Wier / Stewart was also hired by Cumulus Media to brand and launch Nash – an umbrella brand for all of their country products including Nash FM radio, event marketing like the recent three-night "Nash Bash" concert series in New York, Nash Magazine, and the Nash website.

Joining Wier / Stewart is true homecoming for Heffernan, a native whose roots in Augusta go back four generations. In the mid-80s, Heffernan created her first project of note here, the "Kids Against Drugs" program for Georgia Railroad Bank & Trust, which received praise from then First Lady Nancy Reagan and served as a template for her national "Just Say No" initiative.  

This success led Heffernan to Atlanta for a three year stint as Advertising and Promotion Manager at First Union Bank (now Wells Fargo), then to her first job in media, starting as Sales Promotion Manager for Turner Broadcasting and advancing to Senior Vice President, Marketing and Promotions, where she worked on numerous projects including the launch of Cartoon Network and overseeing the rebranding of CNN Airport Network from Airport Channel. Heffernan followed Turner with a move to New York City and four-years and two-years respectively heading marketing for Lifetime then WE: Women's Entertainment Television, and three years leading Martha Stewart Omnimedia into the multi-platform world as Senior Vice President, Integrated Marketing. Heffernan later supervised the re-branding and relaunch of in-cinema advertising leader Screenvision and introduced two-screen advertising and social media into theaters with the launch of its Screenfanz app.

For more information and a portfolio of recent campaigns and news, visit www.wierstewart.com

Media Contacts:
Sal Cataldi/Jacky Agudelo – Cataldi PR  212.244.9797 [email protected] or [email protected]

SOURCE Wier / Stewart