Laura Thomas Joins PETERMAYER as Head of Strategy

New Orleans-based advertising agency PETERMAYER announced the appointment of Laura Thomas as its new head of strategy. Laura brings a wealth of strategic and brand experience having held leadership positions at Curiosity, Deskey and LPK, in addition to serving as chief innovation officer for her own agency, Nontraditional. 

Earlier this year the agency changed ownership, with president and chief strategy officer Michelle Edelman taking over as owner and CEO from the Mayer family. In addition to the ownership change, the agency appointed Matt Kuttan as chief creative officer in May. Laura joins the leadership team as Michelle continues to lay out her vision for the future of the agency. 

“Laura is a forward-thinking, collaborative strategist who loves client relationships, great work and pitching. She’ll make a great leader for our strategic product, and our company overall,” says Michelle. “Laura is also a prolific inventor of IP and IP methodologies — she’s joining the agency at exactly the right time, as we’re in the process of developing an IP model that holds up our new positioning, navigating change for brands. She has a fascinating nontraditional background that spans brand strategy and innovation of new ways of thinking and working. We’re so excited to have her on the leadership team.” 

Laura most recently joins from Curiosity where she served as VP of strategy for two years, helping the agency win almost every account under her leadership. Throughout her 20+ year career, Laura’s client repertoire includes; Pringles, Old Spice, Native, Tampax, Always, Fresh Direct, Pop Tarts, Coleman Camping, Hasbro, Crayola, Purina, French’s, Olay and Luvs diapers. 

“There’s a magic spark about Michelle Edelman that immediately captured my interest — her vision for the agency and the role she sees strategy and creativity playing to create very human business outcomes for brands,” says Laura. “I also love pitching new business, and am excited to partner with the business development team to ramp up growth as PETERMAYER expands outside of the region.” 

Laura’s expertise lies in process innovation, building brand architectures and character development. Part of her unique approach is in gathering experiential and statistical data to come up with an insight that leaps off the brief. In her new role as head of strategy, Laura will be responsible for leading the strategy group and charting the growth and evolution of the strategy discipline at PETERMAYER. And with her passion for innovating different ways of working and thinking, Laura will play a pivotal role in redefining the agency’s processes to reflect the demand for faster, more nimble creative and strategic output.