VaynerMedia has made four hires across its creative and production departments, including Bruce Andreini as SVP, director of integrated production, Kim Baskinger and Tom Christmann as executive creative directors and David Pilgrim as group creative director, all based in the New York office.
In their roles, Andreini, Baskinger, Christmann and Pilgrim will collaborate with the department leads in an effort to ramp up VaynerMedia’s highly crafted, innovative work across platforms.
Andreini is a seasoned, award-winning agency production leader. Having spent time at Saatchi & Saatchi, Deutsch and Grey, and, most recently, head of production at New York digital-turned-creative agency Rokkan, Andreini has led campaigns for global brands including Cadillac, Heineken, Walmart, Chase, Google, MillerCoors, Jet Blue, Snapple and Ikea throughout his career.
Baskinger has over 15 years of experience. Baskinger’s work has been recognized by Cannes Lions, Clios, One Show, Effies, Mashies, LIAs and more. Prior to joining VaynerMedia, Baskinger spent time as an executive creative director at Havas NY working across Reckitt Benckiser, and as a creative director at BBDO NY working across Visa, Lowe’s, Starbucks, Snickers, Twix, Campbell’s and Pepsi.
Christmann started in advertising in the 1990s. His Budweiser Super Bowl spot “Heroes Welcome” was nominated for an Emmy award, and he has also won Cannes Lions, One Show Pencils, D&AD Pencils, Effies, Clios and an FWA. He is the creator and host of The A-List Podcast, which gathers the origin stories of the industry’s creative leaders. He is also co-dean of Adhouse Advertising School.
Pilgrim began in advertising at Ogilvy and Mather, where he worked on the Merck, Kraft, Post, Seagram’s, Hardee’s and American Express accounts. After frustration with the lack of diversity in the general market milieu, Pilgrim migrated to multicultural marketing at the UniWorld Group, moving into a CCO role at Footsteps followed by freelancing across the multicultural arena on shaping brand tone-of-voice for Lowe’s, Gillette, Diageo, Nissan/Infiniti, Visa and PNC Bank.
The four will work on some of VaynerMedia’s largest clients, including ABInBev, Pepsico, KraftHeinz and ScottsMiracle-Gro. Andreini will report to chief operating officer Marc Yudkin; and Baskinger, Christmann and Pilgrim will report to chief creative officer Rob Lenois.
“Andreini, Baskinger, Christmann and Pilgrim share a collective passion for disruptive creativity, making them the perfect fit for VaynerMedia. We are obsessed with creating consumer centric content that blows up in culture, and this seasoned, adland lineup has what it takes to keep pushing the boundaries,” said Lenois.
