Surge Is Evolving with the Changing Interconnected World
Surge Is Evolving with the Changing Interconnected World
Technology is driving the emerging realities of media fragmentation, web-based commerce, viral marketing and social media offering tremendous opportunities for growth. The challenge, for agencies and clients alike, is to respond in a way that best enables them to capitalize on these opportunities. Rather than sit back and take a "wait and see" attitude, Surge Communications has taken action.
"We've taken the next step in our evolution as an organization," notes Hans Jonckheere, President and CEO of Surge Communications Inc. "We have reorganized into three distinct divisions — Surge Communications, Sparks Event Marketing and Avatar Interactive — with experienced industry professionals at the head of each one." Hans believes that this restructuring will make each of the three divisions stronger as individual business units and stronger as a unified group as well. "We're not only positioned to provide the best solutions within the context of each discipline, the strong leadership now in place will also be actively exploring ways to deliver the fully integrated business solutions clients need to compete confidently in this new marketplace," adds Hans. "For Surge clients, it will mean knowing that they are receiving maximum value for their marketing investment, and that their trust is well placed."
With this new structure, Hans' role will change. "I'll be much less involved with the day-to-day demands of management, enabling me to take a broader perspective and concentrate on the longer-term strategic issues our clients are facing," says Hans. "As well, I'll be much more available to our clients to act as a sounding board and provide feedback at the leadership level."
Leading the Divisions:
Mary-Ellen Willard, V.P. Surge Communications – With over 15 years of marketing and sales experience, Mary-Ellen is strongly positioned to run Surge Communications. She knows the challenges of communications from both sides of the desk, having spent the first half of her career in senior management positions on the client side.
She will continue to develop new business opportunities and will retain account management responsibility for some of our larger clients. Effective immediately, Account Management, Creative and Production teams will all report directly to Mary-Ellen. Mary-Ellen sees great potential in this integrated model for finding new ways to help clients get the measurable results they want. Rather than the isolated approach to the more traditional media and advertising components we may have taken in the past, Surge will now operate from a broader perspective as one part of a more integrated solution.
Brian Hillis, V.P. Sparks Event Marketing – Brian's background in marketing communications stretches back over 20 years. Over that time, he became increasingly impressed by the power of experiential marketing to turn skeptical consumers into loyal customers. So much so that he decided to devote his full attention to it by creating Sparks Event Marketing and, eventually, joining forces with Surge.
Going forward, Brian and his team will not only continue to create unique and exciting ways for their clients to gain "face time" with customers, they see tremendous opportunities to work with the other two divisions to extend the "event" and leverage its impact. They are looking forward to creating buzz and generating traffic in ways that simply weren't possible not long ago.
Mark Brown, V.P. Avatar Interactive – A true internet pioneer with 20 years of experience building and leading cross-cultural organizations, Mark brings a wealth of interactive and web-based business expertise to the team. He has founded three successful internet start-ups in Asia, each in a different area: a career-based social networking portal; the first pan-Asian broadband/wireless advertising, marketing and sales network; and an interactive/mobile web design and production studio.
After living in Asia for 15 years, Mark decided it was time to come home to his roots in London and it wasn't long before he connected with Surge. He has two primary goals for Avatar. First, he plans to help clients of both Sparks and Surge Communications leverage their marketing investment and capitalize on the full potential of the internet in ways they may not have thought possible. Secondly, he intends to build the Avatar brand as a leading destination for interactive solutions and web expertise. Like Brian and Mary- Ellen, Mark is very excited about the future.
Steve Murphy, Creative Director – As part of the reorganization, Steve Murphy is moving into the Creative Director's chair. With over 20 years of experience in art direction, Steve's strategically-driven work has won awards across multiple marketing categories. While reorganizing to better meet the needs of their clients, Surge remains an idea-centric organization. It still all starts with a great idea, and Steve has demonstrated, time and time again, his ability to generate ideas that can span all media.
These are exciting times to be in the business of marketing communications and Surge is now positioned to enable their clients to take full advantage of every opportunity.
Hans Jonckheere
President and CEO
Surge Communications, Sparks Event Marketing, Avatar Interactive