Former global director of W+K Tomorrow returns to the TBWA network
Nick Barham, former global director of W+K Tomorrow, has been named to the newly created role of chief strategy officer for TBWAChiatDay Los Angeles. Barham, 41, will join the agency’s executive leadership team and will oversee strategy functions across all parts of the L.A. group. He will work across all key accounts and report to TBWAChiatDay LA’s president, Carisa Bianchi.
Barham brings with him an extensive background in global, strategic planning and technology. Most recently as global director of W+K Tomorrow in Portland, Barham led a team responsible for creating new revenue and working models, with a focus on sustainability and emerging technology. His clients included Nike, Target, the Gates Foundation and EcoDistricts.
Prior to Portland, Barham was based in Asia, where he worked for Wieden + Kennedy in Shanghai as planning director. At Wieden + Kennedy Shanghai, he was on a management team that helped grow the agency from a single client, China-focused agency to a multi-category offering with the capability to deliver regional campaigns for clients including Nike, Coca Cola and Nokia. Originally from London, Barham has also worked at Karmarama, BBC and BBH.
He rejoins the TBWA network having previously been planning director at TBWAChina. He is a regular speaker at events including PSFK, San Francisco: ad:tech Digital, Shanghai: AAAA Account Planning Conference, Miami; and Go Green, Portland. Barham is also author of Dis/connected (Random House, 2004), a book that explores the different worlds of British teenagers and their vibrant youth culture.
Barham said of his new role and roost, “Throughout my career, I’ve done my best to seek out roles that surprise and challenge me and allow me to keep learning. The unique structure of the TBWAChiatDay LA Group combines agility with scale and presents great opportunities for the work that we create with our clients.”
Effie UK and Ipsos Report Concludes Marketing Industry Should Do Its Part To Heal Societal Divisions
Society has never been more divided, according to a new report Healing the Divide in which Effie UK and brand and advertising experts from Ipsos explored brands’ role in shaping society and healing societal divisions.
The report details how instability, inflation, and COVID recovery —the convergence of multiple interconnected crises around the world that coincide with and amplify each other, causing hard to resolve systemic challenges, have become the norm over the past few years. As a result, the use of division as a weapon is now a major theme in today’s culture and politics, and sadly 47% of the UK and 49% of the US agree with the statement that “Within my lifetime, society in my country will break down,” according to Ipsos Global Trends 2024.
While some brands have tried to respond to this, the report finds responsible marketing is now threatened by weaponized division. It points to the World Federation of Advertisers’ decision to shut down the Global Alliance for Responsible Media following an antitrust lawsuit filed by Elon Musk’s X, combined with DEI rollbacks, as significant setbacks.
The report says these setbacks underline the importance of marketing in solving collective problems, such as climate change, food security, and harmful online content. It also points to a need for marketers to take more interest in and more responsibility for healing divisions.
Research claims marketers are ideally placed to build and rebuild the antidote to division (trust, empathy, a sense of control, connection and collaboration). According to the Ipsos Veracity index of trusted professionals, society is becoming more trustworthy of advertising executives. Additionally, 57% of Britons agree that brands should communicate their... Read More