Spurrier Group, a marketing and media agency headquartered in Richmond, Va., reports it has restructured “to better align with changes in the rapidly-evolving media industry, resulting in the creation of a Media Intelligence specialty team.” The firm also announced the addition of three seasoned associates to its team of media professionals.
According to a release, Donna Spurrier, founder and CEO of Spurrier Group, said members of the Media Intelligence team focus solely on gaining a deep knowledge of every available channel within the media landscape and then sharing that intel internally to the benefit of clients and creative agencies who have partnered with Spurrier Group on research, marketing and advertising campaigns.
“We realized that a different type of staff was needed to fully optimize delivery of an exceptional performance media product from the first planning meeting to the final report of a campaign,” said Spurrier. “This team is no longer burdened by the details and demands of client servicing,” she said. “Now they are able to specialize and be more forward-thinking about media intelligence.”
According to the release, media buying has evolved exponentially throughout the 20-plus years since Spurrier founded the company in 1996. Working over the past 12 months to identify the right mix of skill sets to enhance the Media Intelligence team, Spurrier Group deconstructed traditional responsibilities in order to reconstruct an innovative staffing strategy designed to better serve the company’s diverse portfolio of clients and creative agency partners.
“Our Media Intelligence team will collaborate with creative teams at our partner agencies as well as with the clients’ social and digital teams,” Spurrier added. “Given all of media’s diverse touch points in today’s landscape, the media planning and buying process must be fully integrated into the entire fabric of a campaign. The response from clients and creative partners on having an agency team dedicated to Media Intelligence has been overwhelmingly positive.”
New team members at Spurrier Group include:
Amy Venhuizen, a veteran media pro who had worked at several ad agencies and also had her own company, V Media Services, is the senior project manager/account director. She and Donna Spurrier were destined to work together, because Venhuizen’s mother, Diane Baar, who was the media director at The Martin Agency for 35 years, had once worked for Spurrier’s father, Jess Duboy, a well-known Richmond-area advertising executive and television celebrity.
“When Jess was the program director at WLEE radio, Diane had one of her first jobs as a receptionist and got to know him well. The generations have come full circle and I’m delighted,” said Spurrier. “Because of her many years of experience in media operations and management, Amy understands the processes that must be in place for everything we do. Her unique skill set has been instrumental in helping us organize our current processes and identify the needs to build our full-service Media Intelligence team. Spurrier Group is so fortunate to have this great talent on our team.”
Sarah Knapp also just joined Spurrier Group as a senior media buyer. Her career includes prior positions with Elephant Insurance, Genworth and WFofR Media. “Sarah brings a wealth of solid retail experience to our company,” said Spurrier.
Rounding out the new associates is Kristina Williams, who came on board as operations manager after working 13 years at Goodwill Industries. “Kristina has been absolutely vital to our operations,” said Spurrier. “She documents all of our processes and procedures so that everything – and everyone – stays on track, which ultimately impacts ROI for our clients.”
After a year of reconstructing the company, stated the release, “Spurrier looks forward to new challenges and opportunities in 2019 with strong leadership from her Media Intelligence experts. “The immersion of media intel into our strategy adds tremendous value to all of our client relationships,” she said. “This team is making major decisions that affect our local, regional, national and international media planning and buying. I’m blessed to have such an amazing team.””
(Shown in photo: Amy Venhuizen, Sarah Knapp and Kristina Williams)
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