You can check me out on LinkedIn, here. I can be reached at iansohn@gmail.com or 312.286.4902. I’m always up for a chat, no strings attached.
A few career highlights, cases and testimonials from my career in marketing and advertising:
On the front lines of $65M+ (agency fee) net new business wins in last few years alone.
Led three agency restructurings/integrations, responsible for defining a unified culture, business processes, and go-to-market strategy. Resulted in improved commercial performance, flawless client delivery, improved employee satisfaction rates, and net new growth.
Featured at the 3% Conference for my public stance on compassionate leadership and work-life balance.
Built the Ogilvy Chicago digital and social media practice from scratch in 2008, ahead of the industry curve.
God retweeted me.
Led a multi-agency, cross-holding company team that won the highly competitive CVS Health pitch, including AOR duties for CVS and CRM AOR for Aetna. Value of win 8+ figures, and “Is believed to have been fueled by Publicis agencies Hawkeye and Saatchi & Saatchi, according to a person with knowledge of the situation." (AdAge)
I then served as the global client lead for the first nine months of the engagement. Initial work included a fully-integrated launch campaign for our new platform, Healthier Happens Together, starting with a :60 national TVC that challenged the way we think about healthy. "[The TVC] opens with a video showing people going to extremes to be healthy and images people may associate with health, including a shot of a person with a muscular midriff and a woman doing a split on two chairs. “When you hear the word healthy, it always feels a little out of reach. That’s ‘cause the way we’re thinking about it is all wrong,” a narrator says." (WSJ)
Led a pitch (against 29 agencies, according to published accounts) that won digital responsibilities across the JM Smucker portfolio. The assignment included digital creative, web design, CRM and ecommerce for brands including Smucker’s, Folgers, and Jif. Value of win 8+ figures. Served as senior relationship lead, responsible for an agency team 50+.
My pre-pandemic LinkedIn post about work-life balance and compassionate leadership was featured in USA Today, The New York Times, The New York Post, CNBC, FOX News, The Daily Mail, and even retweeted by @God. On LinkedIn alone it’s been re-posted more than 9,000 times, and liked by more than 54,000. I also made my mother very proud.
I take pride in using my platform to be voice on challenges facing the advertising business.