Hasta La Creative!

Goodby, Silverstein & Partners named Julia Mee as the agency’s first chief marketing officer. In the role, Mee will be tasked with overseeing all marketing for the agency, strategically communicating its value to clients, prospective clients and employees.

“Julia has been one of our best clients, and in each of her jobs, she’s advocated for us better than we’ve advocated for ourselves,” GS&P partner and president Derek Robson, who was promoted to his current role in August, said in a statement. “Julia brings clarity about the changing landscape of our industry and a perspective to the company that we’ve never had. All of that experience adds up to an exceptional leader who will no doubt contribute immensely to the future growth of GS&P.”

Mee joins GS&P from Cisco Systems, where she has spent nearly four and a half years serving as senior director, global advertising, media and sponsorships. While with Cisco, she worked with GS&P, as she did in client-side positions at Yahoo! and HP, including collaborating with the agency on Cisco’s “Internet of Everything” campaign. Before arriving at Cisco she spent a little over a year at Yahoo! as vice president, global advertising and media. That followed around nine years at HP, where she worked her way up from a role as corporate advertising manager upon arrival in 1996 to senior director, global advertising and sponsorships, a position she held for two years before leaving HP.

“For 15 years at three different companies, GS&P was my trusted agency partner,” Mee said. “They listened closely, dug into the business, gathered deep customer insights and provided strategic thinking that went far beyond what many expect from an ‘advertising agency.’ We built global campaigns together that made significant contributions to the business, and, along the way, they made me and my teams look really good. Now it’s my turn to help contribute to their business. I’m honored to join their ranks.”

Mee’s arrival follows a string of new business wins for GS&P this year, including StubHub, mobile social gaming company GREE (creators of League of War) and the Golden State Warriors. At the time of Robson’s promotion in August, GS&P also named 20-year agency vet Margaret Johnson as its first chief creative officer.

Japan-based mobile social gaming company GREE International–the company behind titles such as Knights & Dragons, Modern War and League of War: Mercenaries–appointed Goodby, Silverstein & Partners as its first agency of record.

GREE International may not be a familiar name to many, and there is no estimate for the company’s ad budget, but it’s apparently a fairly large account. A representative claimed “the company’s goals are very aggressive,” and the company competes with other game makers such as Clash of Clans (which spends around $48 million on measured media annually), Mobile Strike ($55.6 million) and Game of War ($84 million) for context.

“The mobile gaming market is changing dramatically and while expertise in digital marketing remains critically important, building brand and establishing a strong franchise with consumers has become equally important. GS&P clearly excels in this area across the categories they’ve worked in including a deep history in the gaming industry with premiere companies,” said GREE International vice president of marketing Shawn Conly in a statement. “We reviewed five leading creative agencies in our selection process, and GS&P’s level of strategic thinking, truly creative problem solving, deep resources, and demonstration of partnership were key deciding factors in selecting them as our agency of record.”

“We look forward to working in the gaming space with GREE International to build the brand in innovative ways,” added GS&P partner, executive creative director Margaret Johnson.  “As a brand, GREE International offers a myriad of creative possibilities, particularly in the social space.”

The appointment follows a string of recent account wins for GS&P, including StubHub and the Golden State Warriors. The win also came before today’s announcement that the shop’s creative department had hired a dozen new members.