Marketsmith, Inc. and Brushfire Inc. Grow Into Data-Driven Creative Powerhouse Under New Marketplace Umbrella

CEDAR KNOLLS, N.J., May 27, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Marketsmith, Inc. CEO Monica C. Smith is a force to be reckoned with. For her, being the leader in data-driven direct marketing strategy and analytics was not enough. She also wanted to be the leader in using data to reach and engage customers across all channels in today's increasingly digital, fast moving, overcrowded environment. 

The acquisition of award-winning advertising and PR agency Brushfire, Inc. earlier this year was the first step towards fulfilling her goal. Since January, the two agencies, along with leading programmatic media measurement and optimization platform, i.Predictus, have been working together under the same roof, leveraging Marketsmith's powerful data-based capabilities and building tremendous momentum under the umbrella, "The Marketplace."

To better create synergies and ensure the two teams are strategically and technologically aligned, Jill Draper has been named President of both Marketsmith and Brushfire.

"As technology continues to change how consumers interact with brands," said Smith, "our agencies also need to evolve. Jill has been an invaluable factor in the success of Marketsmith, and I expect that she will bring the same deep knowledge, insight and experience to the future of Brushfire."

Draper joined Marketsmith as President in 2013, after her career took her from senior leadership positions at such agencies as Y&R and McCann Erickson to EVP, Managing Director at DVC Worldwide and its subsequent incarnations as Aspen Marketing and Epsilon. She was integral to Marketsmith's acquisition of Brushfire, the creation of The Marketplace concept, and the company's strategy for future growth.

Evidence of this strategy is The Marketplace's hiring of general advertising, direct response and healthcare marketing veteran, Mark Drossman as EVP, Executive Creative Director.

Drossman's primary focus will be to develop a distinctive voice and positioning for The Marketplace, the pursuit of thought leadership opportunities, new business acquisition, and the formation of a creative S.W.A.T. team to help Marketsmith clients who need top quality creative solutions with great cost-efficiency and fast turnaround. 

Drossman has worked as a copywriter and creative director at a number of New York's top agencies including OgilvyOne worldwide, where for over a decade, he co-led a group responsible for the acquisition and retention creative across all channels -- including DRTV -- for all American Express cards and OPEN, Time Warner Cable, and DHL, among other accounts. He later co-founded an innovative multichannel consumer healthcare agency in NYC and Cambridge, Massachusetts dedicated to increasing engagement between pharmaceutical companies and patients by infusing new thinking into the marketing mix.

Added Smith, "At our companies, we constantly obsess about innovating in the omnichannel space and we look for people who share the same entrepreneurial drive. People with a big heart and strong spine.  Mark brings all that as well as a history of success across all categories and disciplines. He's the ideal choice to help us connect the dots."

About The Marketplace

The Marketplace is at the intersection of powerful, fact-based data, game-changing insights and breakthrough creative. It's where three proven industry leading organizations – all built on a foundation of innovation and the pursuit of excellence – live, work and collaborate together under one roof: strategic marketing firm Marketsmith, Inc.; award-winning creative agency, Brushfire, Inc.; and groundbreaking programmatic media measurement and optimization platform, i.Predictus.

Themarketplacegroup.com 

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SOURCE Brushfire Inc.