For Immediate Release
Media Inquiries: Audrey Whaley
Director of Public Relations
SMITH
919-876-5143
awhaley@smithadv.com
SMITH Expands Account Management Team
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (May 24, 2007)—SMITH, a fully-integrated advertising and marketing agency with offices in Raleigh and Fayetteville, North Carolina, and Sarasota, Florida, today announces the addition of Cristina Garner as account supervisor.
Cristina will oversee multiple of the agency’s accounts including Hilton Head, Partnership for the Sounds, 12 Oaks and Hilton Head Alliance Group. In this role, she will be responsible for strategic planning, brand evaluation and execution, and development of integrated marketing campaigns.
“Cristina is a great addition to the SMITH team. She brings with her a wealth of knowledge from her more than 11 years of experience leading global marketing and strategy efforts for top brands such as Chrysler, AAA, Ameritech, and Mobil,” says Gary T. Smith, president and CEO of SMITH. “We’re pleased to have Cristina managing branding efforts for our clients and serving as a leader for our junior account staff.”
Prior to joining SMITH, Cristina was a broker for the Triangle’s top real estate firm, Fonville Morisey Realty. Her previous agency experience includes a six-year stint at the highly-regarded BBDO in Detroit, where she served as an account director overseeing the team responsible for strategizing, planning and executing promotional programs for all Chrysler Group brands in Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Latin America, including new vehicle launches. In addition, while at BBDO, Cristina worked as an account supervisor responsible for the day-to-day program management of over 160 marketing deliverables to 39 countries in 24 languages.
“Cristina’s caliber of experience throughout her career, along with her recent position in the real estate industry, positioned her as the ideal candidate to help us continue to establish SMITH as a premier branding and integrated marketing agency,” adds Smith. “We look forward to maintaining our growth within the region and hiring highly-skilled talent is a key element of our overall plan.”
Cristina holds an MBA and BA in Communications Arts from Oakland University in Rochester Hills, MI.
ABOUT SMITH
SMITH is an advertising and marketing agency driven by discovering what makes people who they are and what motivates their decisions, and then planning strategic communications accordingly. Headquartered in Fayetteville, N.C., the 33-year-old firm has offices in Raleigh, N.C. and Sarasota, Fla., offering fully-integrated services that include brand development, account planning, marketing research, interactive services and public relations. SMITH’s clients include regional, national and global companies in travel and tourism, healthcare, consumer products, real estate and financial services. The SMITH team has honed its planning and creative skills on blue-chip and Fortune 500 brands including Hershey, BMW, Coca-Cola, ESPN, WebMD, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank and American Express, as well as leading travel destinations such as Hilton Head Island, Pinehurst, Augusta, Sarasota, and Asheville. For more information on SMITH, call (800) 421-1973 ext. 3107or visit www.smithadv.com.