Newly Promoted Executive Creative Director at Marcus Thomas Focused on Unexpected and Integrated Ideas for Clients

CLEVELAND, Jan. 7, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Cleveland-based integrated marketing communications agency Marcus Thomas has promoted Jamie Venorsky to Executive Creative Director. Venorsky, a partner at Marcus Thomas since July 2011, was most recently the creative director for the agency's Home and Garden category, where he oversaw work for clients such as Sherwin-Williams Diversified Brands, MTD, Tarkett^®, and Metrie™.

Venorsky – who'll report to Chief Idea Officer, Joanne Kim – will now be responsible for the overall creative strategy and direction for all agency accounts. In his 15 years with the agency, Venorsky has shown a special talent for bringing a variety of marketing and communication disciplines together to address client challenges.

When one client recently turned to Marcus Thomas to promote a new product line, Venorsky led a team that took an unconventional approach. Rather than create a traditional new product ad, Venorsky brought together a multi-skilled team to produce a live Web-streamed video event featuring HGTV host Jeff Devlin. It was promoted through an optimized blend of paid advertising, public relations, social media, blogger outreach and search engine optimization.

"The biggest marketing challenge companies face today is how to connect in a meaningful way with customers in an age when people can filter you out, talk back, and move from one communication channel to another with the swipe of a finger," said Venorsky. "My primary goal is to help companies understand and take advantage of the new and different ways people communicate today. Part of that includes partnering with our clients to make sure their marketing dollars are spent effectively across an ever growing number of communication channels that all interact."

Venorsky was also a key architect in developing an integrated work model at the agency that allows teams of professionals with diverse skills to quickly organize around a client's business and communication goals.

"Jamie worked with a team on one account to build and test the model before rolling it out agency wide," said Marcus Thomas managing partner, Jim Nash. "We often conduct real-world "test and learns" for our clients to gain insight from the market before deciding how to scale a program, so it was natural for us to apply the same thinking to our business."

Venorsky joined Marcus Thomas in 1999 as an art director. His work has won numerous international, national, regional and local awards: ADDYs, One Show, AME, Webby, W3, IAC, Content Marketing Award. He is a member of the AAF, a graduate of the 4A's Executive Leadership Program, and a past board member of Cleveland Reads and Most Valuable Kids.

Marcus Thomas is a fully integrated marketing communications agency focused on audience insight, idea generation and alternative delivery. We focus our digital DNA and organize our research, account service, creative, media, and public relations teams into four communities of practice: CPG, B2B, Home & Garden and Professional Services. We're the product of a union between two of Northeast Ohio's oldest and largest independent advertising and public relations firms: Marcus Advertising, founded in Cleveland in 1946; and Ira Thomas Associates, founded in Youngstown in 1937. DigiKnow, a pioneering digital marketing and technology firm in Cleveland and Buenos Aires, joined Marcus Thomas in 2011.

SOURCE Marcus Thomas LLC