Kimberly Bates has been named SVP, head of strategic planning across INNOCEAN’s U.S. offices. Bates will lead the agency’s strategic hub, bringing together all core disciplines within the agency to help inform the customer journey with data-driven customer insights, culminating in breakthrough and relevant creative.
“Kimberly will be a big asset for the agency and brings a unique set of skills and experience that extend far beyond the traditional planning role,” said Tim Blett. COO. “INNOCEAN is evolving quickly into an agile, modern marketing agency, and with Kimberly’s impressive breadth and depth of experience it will help accelerate our strategic capabilities to meet the ongoing challenges facing CMOs with today’s fractured ecosystem.”
Previously chief strategy and innovation officer at Gyro, Bates was responsible for leading its global innovation agenda. Before that, she served as an executive planning director at mcgarrybowen. With experience working on both the agency and the client side, Bates has led strategy for agencies and brands including PHD Worldwide, Publicis Kaplan Thaler, Arnell Group–and Pepsi, McDonald’s, Google, Mercedes, Sony, Bank of America, Procter & Gamble, Revlon, Elizabeth Arden, Unilever and Verizon.
“INNOCEAN is a unique creative shop in that it places data and analytics at its core to inform and direct both creative and media solutions,” said Bates. “It’s the right structure to deliver on insights that come from data–further enhancing cultural/human insight and behavioral observation with hard facts.”
“It’s always our job to try to engage a conversation with consumers on behalf of the brands we work with,” said Eric Springer, CCO. “Partnering with Kimberly will amplify how we bring data and creative together, and I’m excited about the work we will develop moving forward.”
