Andy Bhatt, who has served as head of interactive production in the Omnicom Group and, before that, Wieden & Kennedy, has been named to the same role at BBDO New York.
As BBDO New York’s first head of interactive production, Bhatt will oversee the interactive department and work with the agency’s producers, developers, creatives and production partners on a variety of campaigns, many with digital as their centerpieces. Bhatt will report directly to Brian DiLorenzo, director of integrated production at BBDO New York.
“The role was always there as a goal, and it was just a matter of trying to find the right person to fit into the puzzle,” DiLorenzo said of the hire. “It’s part of the efforts we’ve had ongoing as an agency to put digital and interactive work more at the center of what we do. His background, which is really versatile, coming from both production and digital, really gave him the nicest interface of what we were looking for in terms of having someone well-rounded.”
DiLorenzo is also looking to Bhatt to help identify and nurture other talent at the agency and to inspire creativity within BBDO New York.
“The future of the agency is about finding a very eclectic group of problem solvers that really know how to make relationships and logistics work, and to have Andy be part of that team is part of moving forward,” he said. “The direction that integrated production is going, you will never find one producer that can do everything, so building a team of people with different skill sets is what we’re going for.”
The agency had been searching — internally and externally — for someone to fill the head of interactive production role for about a year before deciding on Bhatt.
Prior to joining Wieden and Kennedy, Bhatt served as marketing director for SportingNews.com and oversaw production and operations for the Nike digital account at R/GA. He has also managed an internal interactive agency at MTV Networks and served as consultant on the media and entertainment industry for Accenture.
