Josh Baze Joins Public Label as EVP of Strategy

Creative and integrated marketing agency Public Label has announced the appointment of Josh Baze, who joins the agency as EVP of strategy. Reporting to CEO Brian Cohen, Josh will be responsible for leading planning and strategy efforts across the agency’s North American client roster that includes Progressive, adidas, Fujifilm, Mars Wrigley, Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, OZO and Ford Bronco, among others.

Josh most recently worked at Schafer Condon Carter in Chicago where he served as chief digital officer. Before that, he spent five years at Edelman as EVP, planning and strategy and earlier held a VP, director of planning role at Draftfcb. On the client side, Josh spent time at Google where he led strategic planning initiatives for over 140 brands including AB-InBev, MillerCoors, Kellogg’s, General Mills and Kraft, among others.

“I’ve wanted to work with Josh for a long time, so to finally have him on our team is absolutely thrilling,” said Brian. “We have a shared fascination and appreciation for the story that consumer and shopper data tells us, and his views on how cultural trends and behaviours are driving consumer and shopper choices aligns perfectly with what we are building at Public Label. We’re excited to have such a brilliant and likeminded leader on our side.”

Over the course of his career, Josh has worked with 42 of the world’s 50 biggest advertisers, pioneering digital research and online marketing methodologies along the way. He cut his teeth planning corporate intranets and closed social networks for brands like Bayer, Pizza Hut and Sprint. He assisted MySpace with an early repositioning effort, and has managed marketing communications efforts for Fortune 100 brands across numerous social media platforms, from TikTok to SlideShare.

Josh has also been a longtime champion of the mobile web, creating mobile strategy and e-commerce programs for many CPG companies including Kraft, Kimberly-Clark, AB-InBev, Mondelez, SC Johnson and many others. He has extensive experience managing brand strategy at a global level, developing global insight & strategy work for brands like NIVEA, Paper-Mate, Alka-Seltzer, Samsung, Alitalia, Diners Club, YUM! Brands and others. He recently created the global brand narrative for Nissan, and has vast experience developing brand architecture and narrative from the ground-up.

“I am extremely excited to be joining the innovative team at Public Label,” said Josh. “As a strategist I have always been fascinated by how the macro-cultural context we live in affects the way we think, feel and behave – not just as people, but as consumers. Public Label has institutionalised the deep analysis of cultural movements and consumer motivations as bedrock components of building brand strategy and cracking open our clients’ business problems.”

Josh continued: “As a strategy team we talk about ‘hacking culture.’ In the traditional sense of the word, to hack means ‘to gain unauthorised access to something to use to your advantage.’ And that’s precisely what we are doing at Public Label – using new and unexpected methods to gain a deep understanding of where the culture is headed in order to help our clients and their brands get their first.”