BBDO South recently added three key executives: Michael Van Osch, Elisabeth Tescione, and James O’Neill. All three come from key competitors.
Van Osch enters BBDO as Vice President/Management Supervisor and will manage the branding and marketing strategies on behalf of Carolina Power & Light and Simmons. Prior to joining the agency, Van Osch was Vice President/Management Supervisor with Fitzgerald+CO where he managed the Coca-Cola and Ohio Electric Choice account teams. Previously, he worked as the head of European operations at Lang & Associates serving clients, Coca-Cola, Mattel, and AXA. A graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Waterloo, Van Osch has also held positions at The Achievement Group and The Equitable Life. Tescione steps in as Vice President/Associate Media Director. She is the recipient of many industry awards including a finalist position (the only US company to reach the final round) for the Cannes Media Lion. Before coming to BBDO, Tescione served as President/Associate Media Director at Fitzgerald+CO. where she worked on accounts including AFLAC, Georgia-Pacific Building Products, The Athlete’s Foot, and the World of Coca-Cola. A graduate of Duke University, she has also held positions with McCann-Erikson and Price/McNabb Focused Communications. Tescione will work with the Bayer-Pursell, Carolina Power & Light, and Advance America accounts at BBDO. O’Neill, Vice President/Management Supervisor, recently served as Vice President, Account Supervisor with WestWayne. At BBDO, he will work with the Bayer-Pursell team. At WestWayne, O’Neill led the National Automotive Parts (NAPA) team. With the account, he gathered three ADDY’s, a SAMMY, and two PRSA Phoenix Awards. O’Neill also worked at Hughes Advertising Inc., American Health Consultants Inc., The Criterion Group, Family Media Inc., and AFM Associates. He is a graduate of Central Connecticut State University. On the client side, BBDO is moving along with the launch of a national advertising campaign for San Francisco-based, Flipside.com, an online game site. Flipside’s national agency of record, BBDO, created the campaign to be both humorous and irreverent. The campaign premiered with national cable TV ads on high reach/high composition networks with supporting local radio and TV spots, including presence during the 2000 Summer Olympic Games. National print ads ran in September with a magazine promotion insert in October. The witty repartee of the ads is the brainchild of two men, Matt Whitfield and Carlos Ricque under the guidance of Art Mellor, Executive Vice President/Executive Creative Director of BBDO South. Targeting adults 24-54 years old, the ads address how visiting Flipside.com will not only change your perspective on life but how you will live it.