Epsilon will focus more heavily on analytics, but the company will face no major changes, said its new CEO and President Bryan Kennedy.
The Dallas-based company named the database and loyalty expert to his new post today, as the agency attempts to meet clients’ increasing demands for accountability, measurability and loyalty. Kennedy, who previously served as the company’s COO and president of its marketing technology group, takes on the role immediately, and replaces Michael Iaccarino, who left the company on January 13.
As president and CEO, Kennedy is charged with driving the strategy and delivery of Epsilon’s online and offline marketing services. He said that the company’s strategy will not shift dramatically under his leadership.
“Epsilon has had a lot of success, and I don’t intend to change that strategy,” Kennedy told DMNews. “I do think we’re in a different time, obviously, with the global economic meltdown, and marketers are starting to see their budgets challenged in new ways. We will emphasis more heavily than ever our analytic discipline and our focus on measurable and accountable marketing, but there will be no major change; our focus will be to value our clients and people.”
Epsilon will be looking closely at loyalty and the pharmaceutical vertical as key growth areas in 2009, Kennedy said.
In his former positions, Kennedy managed the development of all of Epsilon’s marketing technology and marketplace strategy. Kennedy also steered the marketing technology group in growing its analytics capabilities and multichannel technologies. He’s been with Epsilon since 1996 and also has served as the chief technology officer for the company.
“I’ve been very fortunate to have been at Epsilon long enough to really have seen everything we do for clients,” he observed. “I’ve been in client management roles and on the frontlines of designing solutions and delivering for clients. I was responsible for designing products and solutions that we bring to market from a technology perspective, and over the last couple of years we have expanded our portfolio in the digital and database spaces. My familiarity with those and role in helping to acquire those capabilities will serve me well.”
Epsilon’s offerings include consulting, database and loyalty tools, proprietary data, predictive modeling, creative services, e-mail delivery, direct mail production and search engine optimization. Clients have ranged from Barnes & Noble to Northwest Airlines, and the company recently signed a multi-year agreement with Marriott International Inc.
