BBH L.A. has just moved into its new space on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood, and the agency is naming its first managing director to run the office: Matt Ross, most recently the managing director of Ogilvy L.A.
BBH L.A., which opened on the West Coast in late 2010, worked on the recent high-profile launch of Justin Bieber’s new fragrance, Girlfriend, and also handles clients like Google, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Give Back Brands.
In addition to Ross’s move to the agency, which is being acquired by Publicis Groupe, BBH said Fran Hazeldine, strategy director in L.A., is being promoted to head of strategy.
Before Ogilvy L.A., where Ross oversaw client relationships with marketers like Arco, AMPM, Tabasco and NatureMade, he was director of new business for WCRS in London and business director for the agency’s Mini account. He previously served as business director at DDB London, working on Volkswagen and the Wyeth Consumer Healthcare and as account director at Tribal DDB, where he was involved with The Guardian and Observer newspapers.
Hazeldine moved to BBH L.A. from BBH London in May 2011 and helped launch the agency network’s bi-coastal operations along with Pelle Sjoenell, executive creative director of the California office. Sjoenell, who moved out to L.A. to open the office, originally set up agency operations in Frank Sinatra’s former bungalow at the United Artists lot, which was the film studio founded by Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks in 1919. BBH L.A. says it is now working with three entertainment studios, but says it is contractually unable to publically identify them.