Weber Shandwick Hires Digital Veteran Jane Barandes to Co-Lead New York Digital Operations

NEW YORK, April 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Weber Shandwick announced today that Jane Barandes has joined the firm as general manager and co-Lead for the firm's fast-growing New York digital operation. In her new position she will work with Jason Wellcome, executive vice president and general manager of the firm's Mediaco unit, to continue to scale as well as diversify the firm's digital offerings. New York is one of the firm's thriving digital centers, encompassing digital strategy, experience design, content strategy and orchestration, social campaigns, community management, and more. She will report to Chris Perry, president of digital and Joy Farber Kolo, deputy general manager of the firm's New York office.

With more than 18 years of experience, Barandes is an accomplished digital agency leader, beginning her career in San Francisco in the early 90s. Most recently she served as 360i's New York managing director. Prior to that she was senior vice president of marketing at Publicis Modem, where she co-managed the General Mills business, while also driving all digital efforts for the Pillsbury brand.

"Jane has an amazing track record developing digital agency competencies, as well as strong client and team leadership talent uniquely suited for today's dynamic media and marketing environment," said Chris Perry, president, Digital for Weber Shandwick. "Her experience combining digital business strategy with social campaigning and content management expertise will be instrumental in driving client programs as well as our future offerings.

On the heels of the recent launch of the Weber Shandwick's content marketing unit, Mediaco, the firm continues to add a range of talent from editors, writers, and brand planners to user experience designers, SEO experts, media planners and producers.  In addition to Barandes, the firm has recently added the following to the staff mix in New York:

• Brooke Tarnoff as editorial director. She joined the firm from MTV Networks, where she was senior digital editor overseeing editorial for NextMovie.com. Prior to joining MTV, Tarnoff oversaw editorial duties at AOL Entertainment and Hearst Interactive.
• Hamilton Tamayo as associate creative director. He joins from Digitas where he was an associate creative director on the digital innovation team responsible for helping identify and create new digital brand experiences in channels such as mobile, tablet and IPTV for clients. 

Perry added that, "With the velocity of transformation taking place in marketing and the subsequent business growth, a highly specialized talent mix is needed to deliver against client needs. We continue to aggressively add new capabilities to our operations, in particular to meet digital, social media and content demands required to deliver campaigns today."

About Weber Shandwick Digital

Weber Shandwick's Digital practice is a fast-growing network within the agency comprising more than 500 digital, social media and content specialists. The firm has received numerous industry awards and was named a "Top 4 Employer for Social Media Professionals" by Mashable. It remains at the forefront of innovation through its proprietary methodologies and applications. The firm recently launched Mediaco, a unit specializing in helping clients apply publishing practices to their communications and marketing programs. Its social crisis simulator, FireBell, is an award-winning, proprietary application that allows clients to participate in real-time online crisis simulation drills in a secure, off the-internet environment. It also introduced Content Fusion, an approach that defines an organization's own unique storytelling ecosystem by identifying stories that can best be told in each respective format and driving the stories through an ecosystem of traditional, digital, social media and company-owned channels.

About Weber Shandwick

Weber Shandwick is a leading global public relations firm with offices in 81 countries around the world. The firm has won numerous awards for innovative approaches and creative campaigns including being named both The Holmes Report's 2012 Global Agency of the Year and the "Most Creative PR Firm in the World," based on the agency's first-place finish in its "Creative Index," as well as PR News' 2012 Digital PR Firm of the Year. Major practice areas include consumer marketing, healthcare, technology, public affairs, financial services, corporate and crisis management. The firm has deep, award-winning expertise in social media and digital marketing that helps drive engagement. Weber Shandwick is part of the Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG). For more information, visit http://www.webershandwick.com.

Contact: Jennifer Norton
Company: Weber Shandwick
Phone: 212.445.8314
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Weber Shandwick