WPP has acquired a majority stake in SET Management, LLC (SET Creative), a brand experience agency based in Portland, Ore., with offices in New York and Los Angeles. The deal allows WPP to grow its Branding and Identity group already comprised of retail and brand consultancy, FITCH, and global brand agency, Brand Union.
SET was founded by Sabina Teshler, who was recently selected with only 12 others in the U.S. for the EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women program. Teshler and SET’s management team, including president and chief strategy officer Alasdair Lloyd-Jones and COO Kurt Kujovich, will report to Simon Bolton, co-leader of WPP’s branding and identity division.
SET was born out of a Nike relationship in 2009 focused almost exclusively on production in retail. It has since broadened well beyond production to include strategy, creative, digital and design. Its client roster includes Nike, Jordan, Arc’teryx, BMW, Fab.com, Google Glass, Red Bull, Uniqlo, and Victoria’s Secret PINK.
To strengthen its capability in live events and expand its offer into Europe, SET recently acquired Flourish, a best-in-class live experience agency based in London, and with clients including Google, Bentley and BP. Effective immediately, the London-based entity will be renamed SET Live, concentrating on events, exhibitions and environments. The U.S. offices continue to operate under the SET brand name.
Bolton, group CEO of WPP’s branding and identity agencies, FITCH and Brand Union, will also oversee SET and SET Live. “SET creates world class physical and digital brand experiences, making it an ideal partner to Brand Union and FITCH,’ said Bolton. “The three agencies provide a complementary set of services, from brand strategy, to retail, design and events, collectively creating a roadmap for agile omni-channel brands.”
Teshler said the new relationship with WPP “will enable us to support our clients across a wider international footprint, as we continue our mission to create world class physical and digital experiences for brands.”
Forsman & Bodenfors Shifts Its Singapore Group Creative Director Ivan Guerra to Its NYC Hub
Forsman & Bodenfors (F&B) has expanded its creative leadership in New York by relocating longtime group creative director Ivan Guerra from the Singapore office to the Big Apple to support a quickly growing list of new client wins.
As a group creative director in Singapore, Guerra racked up numerous accolades and participated in a myriad of new business wins that fueled the agency’s growth year over year. He explained why now was the right time to come back to the states, adding more nuance in the process. ”Singapore is the business hub of Asia, New York is the business hub of the world,” he said. “Our office in Singapore was small when I arrived. Since then, we’ve more than tripled in size, and became the [number one] most creative agency in the country, and work with more and bigger clients than ever before. There’s always more to be done, but the agency I’m leaving behind is in fantastic shape and ready to take on the world, as I know they will.”
For Guerra, there’s an opportunity to replicate in New York the success he had in Singapore. During his career, he repositioned and promoted businesses and products across a wide variety of markets and industries including P&G, Coca-Cola and Booking.com. Some of his well-known work includes a campaign that increased Samsung’s sales in the Middle East by almost 200%, one of the most iconic films in the history of Converse, Verizon’s most successful sports partnership program “Data Dunk” with the NBA, and a “Proud Whopper” campaign in 2014 that reignited Burger King and garnered 13 Cannes Lions and a Grand Clio.
Coming back to New York after 15 years in the business, including a stint where he spent time at the likes of top-shelf agencies like R/GA,... Read More