Advertising Industry Veteran James Consolantis Named Senior Vice President, Worldwide Group Creative Director at Publicis & Hal Riney

Business Wire, March 28, 2005

SAN FRANCISCO -- Consolantis Brings New Level of Creative Leadership to Hewlett-Packard Team

Publicis & Hal Riney today announced the appointment of James Consolantis as Senior Vice President, Worldwide Group Creative Director for the Hewlett-Packard (HP) account. As head of the HP creative team, Consolantis' deep experience with integrated, direct and demand-generation advertising will help further heighten the team's creative focus. His addition strengthens the agency's direct capability, a component of the marketing-communications mix critical to its clients' ability to compete in today's environment. Consolantis is transitioning into this role following his integral contributions to the HP team as a consultant in recent months.

"I first worked with Jim a decade ago on IBM at Ogilvy; he taught me a lot about the power of 360 degree brand integration long before anyone was calling it 360 degree brand integration," said Jae Goodman, co-executive creative director. "To Jim it's just the way marketing communications have to work. He's right, and we're so happy to bring his expertise to our clients."

"Beyond Jim's obvious talent and expertise, his energy is amazing," added Jon Soto, co-executive creative director. "He's been a force on the HP team during his consulting time with us, and we're lucky to be able to leverage his experience full-time."

With both client and agency experience, Consolantis has worked with technology giants like HP, Microsoft, Intel, Motorola and IBM. He has led teams around the world to develop and execute initiatives that utilized response-driven advertising to deliver tangible results for some of the industry's largest brands. Consolantis and other recent additions to both the creative and the account side of the HP team complete an effective mix of talent and expertise to deliver on the client's needs.

"I'm looking forward to working with Jae again and am very excited to join the rest of this incredibly talented creative team at Publicis & Hal Riney," said Consolantis. "My past experience leveraging the power of direct and integrated marketing programs is a great fit for the HP client, and I couldn't be more enthusiastic about the opportunities ahead of us."

In more than 13 years at Ogilvy & Mather, Consolantis held several positions culminating in his appointment as the agency's first ever Chief Integration Officer, responsible for executing 360 degree brand stewardship across all client groups. Consolantis wrote the worldwide Ogilvy bible, 360 Degree Brand Stewardship, codifying beliefs and practices of 360 and evangelized its concept worldwide both within Ogilvy agencies and externally to prospective clients, trade groups and press. In this role, he oversaw integrated campaign development for IBM (e-business), American Express (Blue), Jaguar (S-type) and TIAA-CREF, among others.

Throughout his tenure at Ogilvy & Mather, Consolantis was responsible for a host of IBM initiatives, some of which were recognized with the receipt of Effie and Edison Awards. Prior to managing all IBM creative resources worldwide, he was responsible for efforts for IBM Consumer Division, IBM Channel Marketing and IBM Diversity Marketing and grew IBM direct marketing business and integrated direct marketing efforts with above-the-line advertising. Relatively soon after joining Ogilvy & Mather, Consolantis established Ogilvy Direct as the number one direct marketing shop on the West Coast. He also grew the Microsoft account, helping the company transition into a true sophisticated direct marketer.

Most recently, Consolantis founded and headed a private consultancy specializing in the strategic and creative development of integrated marketing platforms for agencies and corporate clients including Publicis & Hal Riney, HP, Ogilvy & Mather, Motorola Publicis NY, Wunderman, WPP's MJM, The Advocate and Triangle Marketing. During this time, he performed an extremely wide spectrum of creative and leadership duties that include serving as Integrated Group Director, Motorola, LatinAmerica and Asia Pacific for Ogilvy & Mather and working with Publicis & Hal Riney to develop a strategic/operational plan for integrating direct and interactive into action advertising work for HP.

About Publicis & Hal Riney

Publicis & Hal Riney is a full-service agency headquartered in San Francisco, wholly owned by Publicis Groupe, the world's fourth-largest communication group. Publicis & Hal Riney's clients include well-known brands such as Sprint, Hewlett-Packard, 24 Hour Fitness, Jamba Juice, San Francisco Opera and Beringer Wines.