In a move signaling significant growth, Hothouse, an emerging leader in the Atlanta marketing agency space, has hired former Ogilvy Global Business Manager Jay Cronin to lead Client Services and veteran executive producer Shawn Clark to lead the Video and Branded Content division.

“As we help brands drive desirable outcomes with their customers, it’s imperative we have the tools, talent and agile ideation to help them engage their audience at multiple touchpoints,” says Jon Katinsky, Hothouse president. “Jay and Shawn are some of the best in the business and have the vision to help our clients achieve their goals through owned, earned and direct-toaudience outreaches.”

Jay Cronin joins Hothouse as SVP, Client Services. As a Senior Partner at Ogilvy & Mather and at J. Walter Thompson, Cronin led major account like InterContinental Hotels Group and the Marine Corps business for over 20 years and has substantial expertise in 360-degree brand engagement – everything from strategy to event marketing.

“I love Hothouse’s storytelling background for leading brands,” said Cronin. There are some amazingly talented creative, tech and (now) content production resources here. It’s a great combination of experience, people and the right size to support ambitious brands who want an agile, innovative approach.”

Shawn Clark, a former Turner producer, became a part of the Hothouse team after almost 20 years with Benson Creative. He will lead the agency’s full-scale production offering with a focus on creating compelling, sharable and efficient video content for brands and media clients. The agency has recently completed the buildout of a full-service post-production facility on site, including editing and graphics suites.

“I’ve partnered with Hothouse for years before becoming a part of the team. I’ve always admired how they’ve remained lean and efficient while bringing in great people from top firms.  By vertically integrating the agency’s talented creatives with our in-house writers, producers and editors, the model here is more collaborative than I’ve ever seen,” says Clark. “We can create powerful stories and deliver them across virtually any platform.”

Clark recently led the team’s creation of an ambitious series of technology videos for Mercedes-Benz USA, overseeing concepting, writing, storyboarding, production and post production.  Hothouse uses data-driven insights to develop full-circle brand engagement campaigns that leverage untapped opportunities in the clients’ go-to-market strategies.

With a strong expertise in sports and entertainment, they’ve long helped leading network brands such as NBCUniversal, Showtime, ESPN, and over the past year have expanded their client roster to produce work for Deloitte, Mercedes-Benz USA, Discovery Networks and Atlanta United.