Sophie Kelly - AgencySpy

Jonathan Isaac to Join Up with the Barbarians

Kiran Aditham — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 11:25:05 +0000

Well, that didn’t take very long. A week after reporting that Jonathan Isaac was leaving his gig as global head of planning/creative strategy at LBi, we’ve received word this morning that he will be joining The Barbarian Group as executive director of strategy. Isaac will assume his new position on Jan. 14 and work out of TBG’s New York headquarters. Along with focusing on growing strategy/planning offerings for the Barbarians, he will work with existing clients including GE, Pepsi, Samsung, and Bloomberg.

Isaac’s soon-to-be boss, Barbarian Group president Sophie Kelly, says in a statement, “Jonathan is a creative-minded planner that is the critical last hire in the TBG leadership team. Following our recent Head of Production and Head of Business Development hires, Jonathan will catalyze more strategic input with our core clients, help win new business, as well as develop and nurture our existing strategic talent. Great planners are hard to find, and we are delighted to have him.”

As we’ve told you before, prior to LBi, Isaac spent a couple years each at Anomaly and Goodby, serving as strategy director and planning director, respectively.

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Wharton Winds Up at Barbarian

Kiran Aditham — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 10:39:07 +0000

Well, that didn’t take long. A day after reporting that Madison Wharton was parting ways with IPG-owned shop Momentum, the Barbarian Group (which throws one hell of a rooftop party) announced that she’s joined up with the Cheil-owned shop’s New York office as executive director of production. Here’s a quote from TBG president, Sophie Kelly:

“I’m delighted to announce that Madison Wharton is joining us as Executive Director of Production.

Madison’s extensive experience, which ranges from digital to broadcast to physical installations, combined with her considerable background in training, building and growing departments across multiple cities, will be invaluable to TBG as we look to expand our production team over the coming months. We’ve been on the hunt to fill this role as we build out our leadership team, and Madison comes about as highly recommended as we’ve seen in the industry. Welcome Madison, we’re excited to have you on board!”

In her new role, Wharton, who officially starts at TBG on Sept. 17, will work across all mediums, including applications, digital products and campaigns, while also focusing on growing the company’s existing production department.

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Ex-Frogger Sophie Kelly Joins the Barbarian Group as President

Bob Marshall — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 17:18:51 +0000

Former StrawberryFrog managing director/partner Sophie Kelly “moved on” from the pond in April, presumably for greener lily pads. Well, we’ve just received confirmation that the lily pad is the Barbarian Group, where Kelly will serve as the agency’s president. In her new role, Kelly’s responsibilities include major account new business development, acting as the lead account executive and supporting “partners and the board in the vision and growth of the company.”

Barbarian Group CEO and co-founder Benjamin Palmer says of his new hire, “The internet is all grown up, and The Barbarian Group is growing up too! We’re excited Sophie is joining as President to help lead us as we take on more significant client relationships as a creative agency….It’s gonna be awesome™” Want to know what’s really awesome? Trademarking the awesome phrase, “It’s gonna be awesome.”

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We Hear: Apelbaum Out at StrawberryFrog

Kiran Aditham — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 10:32:06 +0000

The saga continues at the Frogpond it appears. Barely a week after account director Jacob Baldridge made his exit, we’ve been told by reliable sources that Suzana Apelbaum, who served as a digital executive creative director at StrawberryFrog, resigned from the agency yesterday. Apelbaum had been with SF for 15 months.

The creative kickstarted her career in Brazil, starting as a copywriter in Rio de Janeiro and then serving as creative director at shops like AgenciaClick, JWT and Africa Propaganda. She eventually moved on to become partner/CCO at Hello Interactive and then Rede, though it looks like she only spent seven months at the last shop.

On the plus side at StrawberryFrog we suppose, it looks like the agency might have found a replacement for Sophie Kelly, who left in April. Our sources tell us that Melinda Eskell, who has been serving as managing director of the agency’s Amsterdam ops since last October, is now also MD of New York.

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StrawberryFrog May Have a New MD…Or Not

Kiran Aditham — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 10:25:05 +0000

We’ve been told by those familiar with the matter that Michael Densmore, who’s spent a solid nine months at Droga5 as group account director, is mulling an offer to take on the managing director role at StrawberryFrog. Densmore, though, has plenty of agency cred, having spent five years at Modernista as partner/director of account services, new business, nearly three years at W+K as management supervisor and two years at JWT serving as global business director and leading the JetBlue account.

If Densmore takes the job, he would replace longtime Frogger Sophie Kelly, who left under the best of terms last month.

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We Hear: Sophie Kelly Leaves StrawberryFrog

Kiran Aditham — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 15:36:16 +0000

Our ever-reliable sources tell us that StrawberryFrog managing director/partner Sophie Kelly has left the agency. We’ve been getting tips over the last couple of days talking about “big changes at StrawberryFrog” so we’re assuming these were pertaining to Aussie native Kelly, who joined the Froggers two years ago from JWT. During her nearly six years at the latter agency, Kelly held posts including global business director for Diageo.

Kelly’s not the only major StrawberryFrog exec that’s called it quits, though, as chief strategy officer Ilana Bryant has also walked out the door. Bryant’s LinkedIn does in fact indicate that she’s joined up as a strategy partner at a consultancy called Special Forces. She had been with StrawberryFrog for over five years.

Update: Girl, you know it’s true, Kelly is in fact “moving on” from StrawberryFrog. We’ve been told it was a “mutual agreement.” Here’s the official word from the agency:

In the two years Sophie has been with the pond, she has made an enormous contribution to the growth of the business. Under her leadership we have secured more retainer clients, grown existing clients, improved our product and diversified the types of projects we take on in the content and new media area. Sophie’s experience at StrawberryFrog has opened her eyes to new possibilities in the content creation and new media area that she has a desire to go and explore. Kelly joined the agency as lead Business Director and went on to be Managing Director reporting to the CEO. StrawberryFrog plans to fill the both jobs, most likely with two people. During the transition, Scott Goodson will act as MD of the New York agency while a search is underway.

Sophie says: “Leaving is difficult. I have a lot of respect for the agency. It is a very emotional thing for me to leave an agency that has been so wonderful to me. I have great passion for StrawberryFrog.”

“We will miss Sophie. She leaves a friend of the FrogPond and we are inspired by her time here. We are sad to see her go,” says Scott Goodson, founder and CEO.

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