Creative Artists Agency Hires Top Executive Mike Windsor to Lead Marketing Department; Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide Board Member Joins World's Leading Entertainment Agency

Business Wire, Sept 8, 2004

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- In a landmark stride for the intersecting worlds of entertainment and marketing, Creative Artists Agency (CAA) today announced that Mike Windsor, most recently CEO of OgilvyInteractive Worldwide, has joined CAA to head its groundbreaking marketing department. Representing clients such as The Coca-Cola Company, Procter & Gamble, Motorola, Hasbro and Nextel, CAA Marketing provides strategies that leverage the power of entertainment to build brands and drive business results.

A longtime champion of non-traditional marketing and esteemed veteran of the advertising business, Windsor was responsible for Ogilvy's interactive resources in 42 markets around the world, spearheading acquisitions, partnerships and strategic initiatives. He also served on both the OgilvyOne Worldwide Board and the Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide Board. Formerly, he built the largest integrated advertising and interactive agency on the West Coast, winning 90 percent of Microsoft's interactive advertising and a majority of their traditional business.

"Mike is a superbly talented, creative and experienced leader who understands, like no one else, the evolving needs of marketers and the impact of technology on consumer behavior," said CAA President Richard Lovett. "He has been a vocal advocate for change, unafraid to shatter tradition to advance the goals of his clients. CAA has built our marketing business on this philosophy, applying innovative thinking, marketing expertise and great insight into popular culture to help deepen our corporate clients' relationships with consumers. With Mike's arrival, we are now taking our business to the next level."

"Technology is driving unprecedented changes in media and marketing," explained Windsor. "This is an exciting time for those eager to embrace the possibilities that emerge with those changes. CAA foresaw the impact technology has had on how consumers experience entertainment and receive marketing messages. They 'got it' early and have been unveiling new, potent ways to reach consumers. At the same time, they realize it doesn't end with seeking out greater targeting and efficiencies. All of the great, most effective marketing campaigns have tapped, or created, popular culture. Popular culture is now a global phenomenon and CAA is perfectly positioned to be the source of big ideas that marketers are hungry for. In today's fragmented and increasingly user-driven media environment, marketers need to find more impactful ways to win customers' hearts and minds."

Since its inception in 2000, CAA has hired marketing experts from diverse professional backgrounds to service its corporate clients, with great success. CAA Marketing played an instrumental role in integrating Coca-Cola with the multi-billion dollar television phenomenon American Idol, a benchmark for successful "brand integration" and winner of Advertising Age's Entertainment Marketers of the Year Award in the "Madison Vine" category. CAA Marketing has helped guide the strategy for client marketing programs in film, television, music, video games and theatre.

Lovett continued, "First, you look at CAA's experience serving the world's leading brands and Mike's experience on Madison Avenue representing global clients; then, you appreciate Mike's deep understanding of technology's impact on entertainment and consumer behavior, and add to that CAA's relationships with and access to the entertainment industry's key decision makers and talent. It is a powerful combination for our corporate clients that simply cannot be found elsewhere."

Windsor joined the Ogilvy agency in 1986, and worked in both the Houston and Los Angeles offices. Group Account Director on the Microsoft account, Windsor departed in 1992 to become President and CEO of advertising agency Anderson & Lembke (now part of McCann-Erickson Worldwide Advertising).

He moved into the business world as a speechwriter at a high-technology oilfield services firm and within three years was the Director of Market Research, Advertising and Public Relations. He followed that with two years in public relations, working for Burson-Marsteller and specializing in crisis communications.

About CAA

Creative Artists Agency is a talent and literary agency with offices in Beverly Hills, Nashville and New York. CAA represents the most creative and successful artists working in film, television, music, theatre, and video games, and provides a range of strategic marketing services to corporate clients. The agency serves as the access point through which artists, consumers and global brands intersect to create, acquire and sell entertainment properties, and to enrich entertainment and brand experiences. CAA has an equity relationship with Shepardson, Stern and Kaminsky, a strategic communications consulting firm. Additionally, Youth Intelligence/The Intelligence Group, a youth market research and trend forecasting company, is a division of CAA.