VMLY&R Commerce Boosts Global and US Leadership Team

VMLY&R COMMERCE announced the appointment of several senior leaders across its global and US leadership teams. These appointments, effective immediately, affirm the company’s continued investment in technology, creativity and innovation to accelerate the delivery of creative commerce work that converts.

“Commerce has moved from evolution to revolution, and we begin 2023 with a commitment to leading the industry in the delivery of data and tech-enabled creative commerce across a new customer commerce journey,” said Beth Ann Kaminkow, global CEO. 

“We’re working with a new breed of marketers that recognize the power in Commerce as both brand building and business driving. In the future, there will be no distance between ‘brand love’ and ‘brand buy.’ Our investment in best-in-class talent, systems and tools have proven the result of applied human insights with an explosion of creativity to engage and convert shoppers. I recognize all these leaders on their contributions to our continued success.”

Ivan Mayes becomes global chief technology officer as VMLY&R COMMERCE scales its proprietary commerce transformation platform and tools globally. Built in 2019 under the leadership of chief innovation officer Roy Armale, the Connected Commerce Platform (CCP) enables the use of data at all stages of the strategic and creative process to drive greater efficiency and optimized creative for clients globally. Serving as chief technology officer, North America since 2020, Ivan has expanded the platform’s usage, adding new tools and services from retail intelligence to creative automation at scale. In this role, he will continue to advance and optimize its value across key clients, while integrating the latest in mixed reality, AI and beyond to deliver smart and tech-enabled creative commerce experiences. The Connected Commerce Platform has been a significant differentiator for the company with bespoke models rolled out across VMLY&R & WPP clients. 

Charlie Wade becomes global executive director, growth and innovation as he expands the reach of the company’s innovation capabilities, under ‘co:lab’ (Commerce Laboratory), a practice he built and launched in 2021. co:lab focuses on identifying and enabling commerce growth through emerging technology, such as Web3 and Gaming, as well as new channel and audience opportunities, including brand partnerships and multicultural. In addition, Charlie will continue to drive organic growth across VMLY&R Commerce globally, including partnering with global chief creative officer, Manuel Borde to scale the delivery of creative commerce ideas via its Brave process. Under Charlie’s leadership, the team has brought to market first of its kind ideas and partnerships including the award-winning Pizza Hut Hasbro Trivia Pursuit. Charlie’s recent experience overseeing growth efforts in the US has resulted in a slew of high-profile new business wins including The Coca-Cola Company, SC Johnson, Sysco, AB InBev and more. Charlie is also a core contributor to the WPP Open X North America Operating Unit with a focus on the delivery of creative commerce across Entertainment, Partnerships and Sports.

Joe Grigsby has been appointed global VMLY&R Commerce lead on The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) business, overseeing the fast-growing global account as part of the WPP Open X leadership team. Joe will work across key market and creative leadership, including VMLY&R TCCC lead Stephanie DeCelles, to deliver brave and boundless creative commerce work across several workstreams. Joe joined VMLY&R Commerce in 2021 as President, Client Engagement, North America, after having spent nearly 8 years with VMLY&R servicing clients such as Colgate-Palmolive, MillerCoors, Hershey’s and more. Prior to his role at VMLY&R Commerce, Joe has held leadership positions within iCrossing/Hearst and Handmark (now part of T-Mobile).

Aisha Krupski is elevated to Global Commercial Lead partnering across the agency to productize and standardize the agency’s core IP and tech offering driving growth for clients. In this role, she serves as the key commercial partner for top global clients, creating and executing effective business strategies in line with customer needs and KPIs. Aisha has spent nearly two decades within the marketing industry across operations, commercials, account leadership and project management. Her varied skill set has propelled greater efficiency and commercial outcomes for clients and agency partners.  

Strengthening its creative leadership globally, VMLY&R COMMERCE also welcomes Logan Allanson 

Global ECD and Casey Diehl as SVP group creative director. Together, they bring over three decades of experience in creative excellence – across brands and categories – focused on connecting consumer behavior to the delivery of ideas and experiences that move consumers to action. Logan has vast international background working across some of the world’s top networks and agencies in South Africa, Europe, the Middle East. He was instrumental in helping both Impact BBDO and Ogilvy Dubai become one of the most successful agencies in the Middle East. Casey’s deep retail and CPG experience has sought to elevate shopper marketing strategies, driving retail and commerce work that converts for brands such as Olay, Pantene, Ziploc, Windex, Glade and Captain Morgan. 

In North America, the agency welcomes Chance Chapman as new EVP, innovation from P&G where he held several leaderships positions, including most recent as Omnichannel commercial lead. He brings to the agency vast brand, commerce and media acumen leading international eCommerce businesses and managing retail media efforts across a variety of CPG brands. Prior to this, Chance built and managed a best-in-class performance marketing team at digital commerce start-up RichContext, acquired by the Stable in November 2020 and now part of Accenture. In this new role, he will support the company’s new and organic growth objectives to align commercial strategies, distinct IP and new business models. In partnership with key leadership he will guide on tools and capability development connecting consumer behavior to commerce innovation to accelerate brand growth. 

VMLY&R COMMERCE has witnessed incredible momentum since launch in 2021 with commerce-led assignments doubling year over year across new and existing clients. In December 2022, the agency was named Network of the Year by The Drum Awards, adding to its strong creative performance at the 2022 Cannes Lions, D&AD, Effie Awards, Clio, and One Show, among others.