VaynerMedia signs on Interbrand veteran Andrea Sullivan as agency's first chief client officer
VaynerMedia has announced the hiring of Andrea Sullivan, a 16-year veteran of branding consultancy Interbrand, as the agency's first global chief client officer.
Vaynermedia hired longtime Interbrand global CMO as the agency's first chief client officer. / Vaynermedia
In her tenure at the Omnicom brand consultancy, Sullivan worked on a vast roster of clients, including American Express, Cisco, eBay, Gates Foundation, GE, Hyatt, J&J, Marriott, Mars, McDonald’s, Microsoft, Nissan, P&G, Sony, and Samsung.
It wasn't easy to leave, Sullivan had said: "The only reason I would leave [Interbrand], where I had a platform, and was able to have a great title like CMO enabling me to meet the top CMOs of the most from the best global brands, was to be able to join an organization that frankly has a completely different perspective on how to connect brands to culture in different ways. The thing I can say about Vayner is that the culture is absolutely contagious. The way we treat people, and the way that we approach our clients is completely different from anything I've seen in any other organization."
Sullivan said she had been following Gary Vaynerchuk, founder and CEO of VaynerMedia, for some time and had done work together in the non-profit space. "It was so cool to see how he got people out of their chairs, thinking differently and collaborating. No idea is too wild."
Vaynerchuk said of Sullivan: "She is somebody who I’ve been spending a lot of time with this past year getting to know and somebody who I think can really change the trajectory of our organization and can make a huge impact."
He added, "She’s going to spend a lot of time helping me double down, or dividing and conquering with our most senior relationships. Her rolodex is very impressive. Being at the helm of tops brands in the world gave her access to a lot of CMOs and other C-Suite executives from the biggest companies in the world and I think they are the most challenged. This is why the one plus one equals three scenario is super exciting."
Vaynerchuk believed the addition of Sullivan will help him scale what he called a “crippled by opportunity” scenario. "VaynerMedia is on the verge of an enormous amount of excitement," he said, "and I think with Andrea as our incredible partner there will be a lot more in 2018."