Ripple Street, a peer-to-peer marketing platform that matches brands with their ideal consumers, has named Alice Hawari as VP of marketing. Hawari will focus on accelerating and enabling revenue growth by strengthening the company’s market position—from marketing strategy, branding, messaging and thought leadership to community development and product experiences. Through a data-driven lens, Hawari will be responsible for testing new channels and determining the ideal marketing mix for both community and customer acquisition and retention goals. Mondelez International, Molson Coors, and JMSmucker are among the brands that have turned to Ripple Street to drive online and in-store retail trips, user generated content, and product reviews through authentic shared product experiences. With more than 15 years of leadership experience at technology companies, Hawari brings a wealth of go-to-market expertise. Before Ripple Street, Hawari served as a marketing consultant for a wide range of high-growth organizations such as Stanford GSB, Slingwave, and Pipewave (acquired by ZEFR). Integrated into their businesses, she accelerated their ability to connect, communicate, and better serve their customers. Prior to consulting, Hawari served as the head of marketing at Nativo, a native advertising technology platform, and as the director of product marketing at AOL, where she owned messaging and positioning for AOL’s mobile, premium formats, and native ad products….
Crystal (Rix) Zerrenner, former global marketing chief marketing officer at BBDO, has joined Thinx, Inc., maker of reusable period and bladder-lead underwear, as chief growth officer. At BBDO, she was key to bringing to life Thinx’s first award-winning, taboo-breaking national ad campaign, “Menstruation.” As chief growth officer, she will work cross-functionally to align marketing and business development goals, among other key responsibilities in order to drive new customer acquisition, increase lifetime value through retention marketing efforts, establish brand awareness, recognition, and consumer trust especially through third-party validation and effectively tell the story of the product and the company….
Advanced Systems Group (ASG), a media technology and engineering firm, has added Collyer Spreen as sales engineer. He is based in Dallas. Most recently, Spreen provided pro audio consulting and sales for Cutting Edge. He also spent more than seven years as a pro audio solutions specialist for Avid Technology. A Pro Tools expert, he continues to work as a freelance recording engineer through his company, Soundasleep Productions…..
“Saturday Night Live,” “Jim Henson Idea Man” Among Big Winners On 1st Night of Creative Arts Emmys
It seemed apropos that Saturday evening (9/7) was big for Saturday Night Live as the stalwart NBC show topped the awards tally on the first night of two Creative Arts Emmy ceremonies this weekend. Saturday Night Live took six Emmy Awards spanning such categories as directing, technical direction, production design, lighting design, makeup and hairstyling. Next with four wins apiece were Blue Eye Samurai (Netflix), The Oscars telecast (ABC), and Jim Henson Idea Man (Disney+). The latter too felt appropriate as the documentary celebrated Henson of Muppets fame for his creativity and impactful contributions to the arts--which dovetailed nicely with a Creative Arts competition. Jim Henson Idea Man, directed by Ron Howard, topped the Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special category while also gaining recognition for its picture editing, music composition and sound editing. Blue Eye Samurai was named Outstanding Animated Program while also picking up three juried awards for its lead character designer, production designer and storyboard artist. Saturday Night Live’s Emmy haul spanned production design, hairstyling, makeup and lighting design. Meanwhile, the first night of the Creative Arts Emmys had some emotional highlights, including Angela Bassett winning her first career Emmy Award--for her narration of the National Geographic show Queens. “Oh my god, wow, my first Emmy,” an emotional Bassett said. “I couldn’t be more thrilled and more grateful.” Bassett was attracted to the documentary project for its subject matter--matriarchs in wildlife--and a women-led production team assembled to do justice to the project. Having a female-dominant crew, she said... Read More