NEW YORK, Dec. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — The&Partnership announced today it has named Alex Dobson as creative strategy lead, US. Dobson, who joined the agency in 2019, previously served as strategy director and has played a pivotal role in the global success of the firm’s Mars account, overseeing high-profile campaigns for blockbuster brands including Skittles, Snickers and Extra Gum.
Since joining The&Partnership, Dobson has helped lead the way on Mars’ addressable strategy, social content and purpose-led campaigns, enabling the company’s iconic brands to forge stronger connections with their consumers. This includes developing the strategy behind the universally acclaimed and 2023 Gold Effie-award winning “Everyone’s Original” campaign for Ben’s Original – the brand’s first campaign following its rebrand from Uncle Ben’s. Most recently, Dobson oversaw strategy on global Halloween TV campaigns for Twix and M&Ms, and also served as a judge at the 2023/24 Effies.
Other campaign highlights include the launch of Skittles’ “Squishy Cloudz,” the brand’s first-ever gummy confection and the Snickers’ “Go Full Fan” campaign in support of England’s Lionesses, the country’s national women’s soccer team during the team’s run to the Euro 2022 championship. Dobson also played a key role in driving sales for Extra White gum up by more than 30 percent through the successful ‘Every Smile Should Shine’ campaign.
In his new role, Dobson will lead the US Creative Strategy Team, working with the firm’s media agency, mSix&Partners, to bring more data informed content strategies to clients. Along with client work, he will guide the agency’s implementation of AI tools throughout the agency’s work.
“Alex’s ability to synthesize data-driven insights and cultural observation into addressable brand strategies has been a fundamental element in the success of our global content work for Mars over the past three years,” said Neil Goodlad, global chief strategy officer of The&Partnership. “We are thrilled to welcome him to this new role as we continue to grow our business across the US and North America.”
In addition to his client work, Dobson also leads internal training efforts, hosting regular sessions on topics ranging from AI to addressability to in-flight campaign optimization. He is also a proud member of WPP Unite, the company’s LGBTQ+ community group. In recognition of his efforts, Dobson was named last month to Business Insider’s Rising Stars of Madison Avenue list.
Prior to joining The&Partnership, Dobson was a senior strategist at Grey London, working with client Nomad Foods, one of the world’s largest frozen foods companies. Earlier at Bow&Arrow (now part of Accenture Song), he developed strategy for clients including Dow Jones and Google. In 12+ years in the industry Dobson has worked in innovation, creative agencies, market research and client-side. He is also a recent graduate of the MarketingWeek Mini MBA in Marketing.
Dobson’s promotion comes of the heels of a busy 2023 for the agency, which saw an expansion of the firm’s global content relationship with Mars Wrigley, the launch of Toyota’s new “Beyond Zero” brand platform across 16 European markets and celebrated work for Canada Post, TELUS and Lexus.
“We are at an incredibly exciting inflection point for the marketing industry with new technologies like AI supercharging the ability of brands to create compelling, data-informed content at the speed of culture,” said Dobson. “I’m excited for the opportunity to help our clients harness the power of human creativity and machine magic to navigate and succeed in this fast-moving environment.”
About The&Partnership
Founded in 2001, The&Partnership is a privately owned corporation with the backing of the world’s largest global marketing network, WPP. Fiercely independent and entrepreneurial, led by partners who are personally invested in the success of their clients’ businesses.
Backed by WPP and spanning 45 offices across five continents, the 1500-strong multi-disciplined agency group has seen four continuous years of record growth against a challenging industry backdrop.
It attributes this rapid expansion to the success of its in-sourced ‘&Model’ agencies, with multi-disciplined, on-site teams working alongside clients’ marketing departments in new, nimble ways, to a single bottom line; delivering data-driven work to fit new marketing agendas.
Designed to meet clients’ growing need for maximum speed, agility, cost-effectiveness and integration, these multi-disciplined ‘&Model’ agencies are driving impressive results for clients including News Corp, AON, TELUS, Toyota, Lexus, Mars, and Canada Post.
The&Partnership is partnered with global media planning and buying network mSix&Partners through a joint venture with GroupM. https://theandpartnership.com/
SOURCE The&Partnership
