"Super Strategist" Lesley Bielby Joins DiMassimo Goldstein as Co-CEO
The author and strategy veteran will lead agency's pledge for positive behavior change
NEW YORK, Sept. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Strategy veteran and author Lesley Bielby is returning to storied New York agency DiMassimo Goldstein (DiGo) for her third tour, but it isn't to revisit the past. The former Hill Holiday Chief Strategy Officer will be taking on a new role, co-CEO, and a new challenge: bringing to life the agency's pledge to champion positive behavior change in brands and consumers.
Bielby will share the CEO role with longtime DiGo partner, Lee Goldstein, as well as leading strategy at the agency. "Mark, Lee and I have long agreed that we are at our best when we focus on working with clients who want to improve lives (and grow their business) by encouraging behavior change for the better," Bielby says. "I'm thrilled to help lead an agency that is not only talking about positive behavior change but is committed to making it happen."
Since its inception 25 years ago, DiGo has promoted positive behavior change with clients such as Weight Watchers (now WW), SodaStream, Crunch Fitness, Samsung, Salesforce, CVS Health, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and therapy provider BetterHelp. But the pandemic and social unrest of the past two years drove home for DiGo how important behavior change is — and the powerful role brands can play in it. So now that's all DiGo will do.
"Going forward, we at DiGo will focus on what we have traditionally always excelled at. We will use all our skills, smarts, professional energy, and creativity to champion brands that help people create positive behavior change," says DiGo founder and Creative Chief Mark DiMassimo. "This is a line in the sand. We will be agents of positive behavior change or nothing."
While their focus will include obvious choices such as not-for-profit and wellness brands, the scope expands well beyond this into a whole range of brands and businesses where positive behavior change is needed, such as medication compliance, healthy foods, fuel efficiency, retirement planning, financial wellness, encouraging health checks, and ceasing unhealthy habits and behaviors. "Brands of all stripes can be a platform for change," Bielby says. "Some of them just may not know it yet."
Part of the "third wave" of British planners, the Scottish-born Bielby recently authored Super Strategist: The Art and Science of Modern Account Planning. In it, she lays out the playbook for modern strategists, drawing from a career spanning 30 years including twelve years as Chief Strategy Officer of Hill Holliday. Bielby is uniquely suited to understanding behavior, with a postgraduate degree in psychotherapy and time spent as a practicing therapist.
Goldstein says Bielby's background brings a strategic rigor that will invigorate and help DiGo execute on its pledge. "Lesley understands that if we get someone to viscerally feel something, and motivate them to act on it, they will change their behavior," he says. "Whenever Mark, Lesley and I work together it's magic. This time will be even more magical."
About DiMassimo Goldstein (DiGo):
DiMassimo Goldstein (DiGo) is the industry-leading agency in positive behavior change marketing. Clients, past and present, include BetterHelp, Wondrium, Partnership to End Addiction, WW (formerly Weight Watchers), SodaStream, Samsung, Echelon, Pfizer, and CVS Health, among many others across various industries. Headquartered in New York City, DiGo has teams across the U.S., and is committed to creating an enriching environment of diversity, equality, inclusion and creativity. For more information, visit digobrands.com.
CONTACT:
Lexie Chaudhuri
Sweat + Co
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SOURCE DiMassimo Goldstein
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