Detroit-based brand advocacy agency Crimson, formerly Mort Crim Communications, has named Jennette Smith Kotila as its new president and promoted five other team members.
Kotila was promoted from her previous role as chief marketing officer and partner. The move is said to recognize her role as the public face of the company along with her leadership roles driving strategy on key accounts, business development, and continuous improvement efforts. She joined the agency in 2018 as senior vice president of client relations and is a former longtime business journalist.
Other agency promotions include:
- Carolyn Artman to vice president of strategic communications, recognizing her roles in account leadership, earned media, and content strategy. She will continue to drive communication strategies including public relations and integrated communications approaches to a wide range of accounts. Her previous title was account director, and she joined the agency in 2018 after holding several high-profile roles in corporate, arts and culture, tourism, and health care communications.
- Samantha Babcock to vice president of account services, recognizing her contributions in the areas of client relations, operations, and quality control, along with her leadership in establishing updated standard operational procedures, campaign and brand strategy development, and more. Her previous title was account director, and she joined the agency in 2019. She held previous roles in project management and media planning/buying.
- Garrett Ekstrom to vice president of web and digital experience. This recognizes Ekstrom’s leadership across both web development and web strategy but also his area of expertise around digital channels and user experience. His previous title was web director. He joined Crimson in 2014 after a previous career as an independent developer.
- Will Perry to vice president and executive creative director to recognize his agency leadership in brand, creative, and marketing excellence. Perry joined the agency four years ago after decades of experience at global brand agencies both in North America and Europe.
- Greg Zonca to executive producer and account director. Zonca has in client relations, video storytelling, project management, and business development. His most recent title was producer, and he joined the agency in 1999 after a previous career in automotive engineering.
“All of these promotions recognize the fact that excellence in an organization is driven by empowering talented, driven professionals to do what they do best,” says Chris Heaton, CEO of Crimson. “In some ways, these title promotions only formalize the roles these leaders were already holding informally. The intent in making it official is to send a clear message to clients and potential clients about the exceptional talents of our team.”
Crimson has a broad mix of clients with both B2B and B2C focus areas, such as General Motors Co., Bosch USA, KODE Labs, Landaal Packaging Systems, Michigan Municipal League, Future Energy, Barton Malow, Ideal Contracting, Motor City Electric, Forgotten Harvest, Oakland County Parks, and the Argonne National Laboratory/Battery Workforce Challenge.
