Creative agency B-Reel NY is growing its Brooklyn-based team with three new appointments. Jessica Abood and Robert Blair take over the newly created roles of sr. integrated producer and associate creative director of design, respectively, with Ramon Cruz appointed as brand director.
Designer, publisher and arts educator Blair joins B-Reel from M&C Saatchi Sport, where he was associate creative director. He was instrumental in building the agency’s creative department and worked on pitches and productions for brands including Anheuser-Busch, William Grant & Sons, and Sonos.
Blair also spent four years as art director of Exposure America, working on brand activations, experiential projects and photo and video productions for clients such as Uniqlo, Afropunk Music Festival and Adidas Originals. Leaving in 2018, he became a freelance art director and designer, working with art galleries, independent book fairs and in broadcast media. Blair also founded independent and self-produced publishing studio TXTBooks with partners Nichole Shinn, Thomas Colligan, Rose Wong and Kurt Woerpel in 2014, and is a visiting instructor at the art and design college Pratt Institute in the Communications Design Department.
Abood, a producer for more than 10 years, joins from integrated full-service agency Madwell, where she was an integrated sr. producer. During her three and a half years at the agency, she worked on 360 projects from strategy and conception through to postproduction for clients such as Verizon Gaming, Visible (a Verizon company, Heineken Innovation and Bugaboo, as well as on direct to consumer start-ups and new businesses.
Previously, Abood spent seven years working in the music industry both in her homeland of Australia and the U.S. market. She worked in a variety of roles, including record release marketing, on tours and live music event production.
Cruz joins B-Reel from Translation LLC where as account director he repositioned 1800 Tequila among a sea of overnight tequila barons and worked across all facets of the AT&T business which included brand, DEI, and performance marketing assignments. In addition, he has led large-scale NBA sponsorships efforts for American Express and Coinbase. Cruz, a California native, began his advertising career on the West Coast, specializing in automotive. He applied his passion for car culture and creative work at Wieden+Kennedy, Portland. He has also had key account roles at McCann New York, Mother and Saatchi & Saatchi.
At B-Reel, the trio will be working on an array of existing clients and a number of confidential new business wins.
