Rosemarie Ryan and Ty Montague, who earlier this year exited their respective positions at JWT as North American president and North American co-president/chief creative officer, have resurfaced with their much anticipated new venture, Co:, a Manhattan-based brand studio which partners them with Neil Parker, former global head of strategy for branding firm Wolff Olins, and Richard Schatzberger, who had been director of creative technology at BBH.
Parker serves as chief strategy officer at Co: while Schatzberger is chief technology experience officer. Parker’s experience also includes having worked as a management consultant and as part of IBM’s corporate strategy group. Prior to BBH, Schatzberger worked in interaction design and product innovation at Motorola.
Additionally Co: is looking for a partner to fill the role of chief commercial officer to manage the co-ventures practice, forging relationships that allow Co: to co-fund strategic ventures with marketers and with start-ups.
Co: is being structured so that its core team can readily collaborate with other shops and talent, ramping up resources and workforce depending on the nature of the task at hand be it the development of new brands and businesses, and/or brand messaging. “It’s the studio model brought to marketing services,” said Co: co-founder Montague. “Old film studios used to be vertically integrated in that they owned everything–actors, producers, directors, cameras, theaters. Today a film studio is a small, senior group of executives, a little bit of infrastructure and a pile of money, with talent custom-assembled on a project basis. Much more efficient.”
Co: released a list of “co-conspirators” spanning mobile, interactive, PR, design, entertainment, brand story, transmedia narrative, data and analytics, direct/CRM, media strategy and buying, business strategy, brand strategy, social media strategy, sustainability/CSR, experience and events, IP and capital, software and technology, social platforms and gaming. Co:’s model allows this constellation of independent specialist experts to deliver better, more innovative thinking in a coordinated and collaborative fashion.
Co-conspirators that have joined Co: to date include: Behance, BERG London, Big Spaceship, Brand Synchronicity, Breakfast, Campfire, Collins, Consigliere, Cool Hunting, CreativeFeed, Cunning, DKC, Dosage, GMD Studios, Headmint, Horizon Media, IfWe RanTheWorld, Imagination, Juba Plus, Largetail, Made By Many, MarketShare, Medialink, Meteor Solutions, MIR, MotiveQuest, Naked Communications, Player Three, Powell Communications, Propellerfish, Purpose, Red Bricks Media, Skyrockit, Sleuth, Starling, Tether, The KM Co, Tronic, Unconventional Partners, Vast Ventures, Victors & Spoils, and Your Majesty.
“We’ve chosen a roster of ‘co-conspirators’ who are best in class at what they do and expert collaborators,” said Schatzberger. “This makes Co: about scalability and not about scale, so brands don’t have to pay for anyone who is not working on their business. Brands get the right talent for the right project for the right outcome.”
Ryan, co-founder of Co:, related, “The CMO now has the most dangerous job in business, due in large part to the networked age we are living in. It used to be that audiences, money, and time were abundant–now, these things are scarce. Brands, channels and agencies are now abundant. CMOs need to be armed with the tools they need to succeed in a networked age.”
Co: draws its name from the way it works with marketers and partners: co-creation, collaboration, and co-venturing. Designed to eradicate costly inefficiencies in the marketing world in which return on investment is more crucial than ever, Co: opens with the ability to scale from a five- to a 1500-person organization from inception.
“A recent study showed that there were 2.5 million brands in the world in 1997, and 8 million by 2008,” said Parker. “In that same time frame, there has been a 50 percent decline in brand trust, along with a 90 percent decline in perceived product differentiation. We’ve designed Co: to help CMOs eradicate the commoditization of brands, leading to more meaningful consumer experiences.”
AD&Co. Launches Studio A; Davida Hall To Head New Venture As Sr. Director of Creative Content
Female-founded and led creative marketing agency AD&Co. has opened Studio A. The new venture will serve as AD&Co.’s in-house social brand content division, focused on developing and producing digital programming for advertising, social media, and influencer marketing campaigns designed to reach today’s audiences on the most popular and pivotal platforms. Davida Hall has been named to head Studio A as sr. director of creative content. She shifts over from AD&Co. where she held the same title since December 2023. Hall’s affiliations prior to AD&Co. include PopSugar and Studio71.
Amy Demas, founder and chief creative officer of AD&Co., said, “We understand content is king-—or queen—and that our clients need to engage their customer communities where they live. That inspired the logical expansion of AD&Co with Studio A, which is committed to producing only the most engaging and authentic brand stories.”
Studio A will harness both AD&Co’s and Hall’s deep expertise in the lifestyle sector, as content creators and avid consumers. Specializing in reaching audiences where they spend their time, the studio is immersed in social media, pop culture, and current trends, expertly crafting visuals, language, and storytelling to reinforce client brand identities and cut through the noise.
Studio A debuts with the “This Is Me” campaign for Love + Craft + Beauty, a brand dedicated to embracing and promoting diversity within the beauty space. “This Is Me” highlights Gen Z’s affinity for radical self-expression that allows individuals to tell their own stories, free from labels, using beauty and fashion as tools of authenticity. The campaign showcases models celebrating their unique qualities to present... Read More