March 2009
Zimmerman Advertising has announced the inclusion of Chris Carroll and the promotion of Scott Thaler.
Carroll joins as Executive Vice President/Chief Client Officer and Thaler gets planted as Executive Vice President/Chief Interaction Officer.
America’s 14th largest agency with billings of over $2.5 billion owned by Omnicom, Zimmerman Advertising reports being currently on an unprecedented winning streak with major wins in the last 18 months including accounts for Lane Bryant, Friendly’s Carfax, Jackson Hewitt, Pep Boys, The Room Place and White Castle, to name a few, still with additional win announcements imminent.
The agency's goal is to become the largest retail ad agency in the country with $4 billion in billings over the next five years, and clients in every critical retail sector. One of the ways to meet these goals is to invest in the best talent in the business, adding diversity to an already impressive executive team and bringing about bigger ideas and results for its clients.
Carroll comes from senior marketing roles at Burger King, LensCrafters and Subway, and has worked alongside agencies like Arnold, Goodby, Ketchum, Tracy Locke and many others. He most recently came from an equity position with Cosi.
"Years ago, we had the opportunity to meet Chris Carroll, then the CMO of Subway," says Jordan Zimmerman, founder and CEO.
"Our team walked away knowing we needed someone JUST LIKE THAT on our team to help support our growth and vision: someone that directly understood the pressures of being a client in a way a traditional ad person never could; someone focused on ROI at any cost; someone who at their core embodied our ZNA. We found it impossible to find another 'Chris Carroll,' so we decided to invest in the original, and we could not be happier."
Carroll will serve as client lead and driver of client success, which is especially important in this tough market. He brings with him a lengthy pedigree with some of the largest retail companies in the world. He has unique perspective into the pressures retailers face that no agency really experiences first-hand, realizing the reality of daily life is growing sales at each individual retail location.
"I knew if I ever decided to get back into the agency business, it would have to be with Jordan and the Zimmerman team," said Carroll.
Carroll believes the greatest opportunity will be to target those brands that understand the importance of Zimmerman's Brandtailing methodology, especially in today's marketplace. His attention to ROI in the midst of the complexities of large organizations and fluctuating retail markets make him a perfect fit for Zimmerman's ethos of living and breathing–even bleeding– for a client's success.
A five-year veteran of Zimmerman, Thaler has led some of the largest accounts at the agency and has been a major catalyst for change within the agency.
A former Internet entrepreneur and the SVP/Marketing at Equifax, Thaler's intimate understanding of digital technology and how it has shaped the way consumers buy goods and services led the agency to create a new position for him.
"Consumers live in a digital world, they buy in a digital world, they coexist in a digital world," says Zimmerman.
"Scott has always preached that it is not about developing solutions that just bring brand interactivity–every agency on the planet can do that. We will not be happy until we achieve brand interACTIONS: ideas that go further than awareness and interest, and actually turn the corner to purchase. That is what interaction is about...just like the Brandtailing principle the agency has always been based on."
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