UPDATE: sparks & honey Taps Leading Culture and Trend Experts to Establish Inaugural Influencer Advisory Board

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Apr 10, 2013) - sparks & honey, a next generation cultural identification agency, has today announced the formalization of its inaugural Influencer Advisory Board -- a group of 15 experts and leading influencers from industry categories including entrepreneurship, gaming, parenting and spirituality. The Board will serve as a resource for trend intelligence and a real-time barometer of cultural signals.

"Maintaining an open and ongoing dialogue with industry thought leaders is imperative to the success of our business," said Terry Young, Founder and CEO of sparks & honey. "We're thrilled to formalize the insightful and rewarding relationships we've had with each of our Board members to date."

Influencer Advisory Board members will enrich sparks & honey's proprietary database and culture-mapping platform through fringe signal validation and provision of deep insights. The Board will be consulted regularly for real-time insights on emerging trends and cultural bursts, as well as contribute expert perspective to reports and whitepapers.

Board member Peter Hopkins, CEO of the influential thought leader Big Think, has been working with the sparks & honey team since the company's inception just over a year ago: "There is tremendous value in the data-driven newsroom model sparks & honey embodies and being part of its Influencer Advisory Board allows us to positively contribute to each other's growth. We share the same forward-thinking, strategic principles."

Hari, the noted Kundalini and conscious media expert, is a similarly eager participant in the sparks & honey Influencer Advisory Board, adding that "the agency's interest in working with brands that follow conscious business practices is a match for my own work."

The 15 Board members, each listed against their specific category of expertise, are:

• Art: Amy Kisch, Founder & CEO, AKArt
• Beauty & Fragrance: Annette Green, President Emeritus, Fragrance Foundation
• Big Data & Social Media: Eddie Smith, Chief Revenue Officer, Topsy Labs
• Breaking News: Kristine Petrik, Director, CNN Integrated Programming and Co-Founder, Java Love Coffee Roasting Co.
• Celebrity Culture: Suzy Byrne Timmel, Content Editor, omg! at Yahoo!
• Corporate Innovation: Danene Jaffe, President, TAP, Inc. and Innovation Consultant to Fortune 500
• Design: Sem Devillart, Co-Founder & CEO, Popular Operations
• Entrepreneurship & Small Business: Bryan Janeczko, Co-Founder, Nu-Kitchen and Founder & CEO, Wicked Start
• Film: Janet Brown, CEO, FilmBuff
• Gaming: Libe Goad, Editor-in-Chief, AOL Games
• Parenting: Samantha Ettus, Founder, Working Moms Lifestyle
• Politics: Joanne Bamberger, PunditMom; Editor-in-Chief, The Broad Side
• Spirituality: Hari, Kundalini and Conscious Media Expert
• Trendwatching: Peter Hopkins, Founder & CEO, Big Think
• TV & Sports: Rich Sands, Senior Editor, TV Guide Magazine

For more details on sparks & honey, visit www.sparksandhoney.com

About sparks & honey:
sparks & honey (www.sparksandhoney.com) is a New York-based agency with a mission to synchronize brands with emerging culture. Employing a disruptive marketing platform and newsroom model called Wave Branding, sparks & honey leverages proprietary tools, algorithms and human insights to identify emerging cultural trends and engage brands in authentic and meaningful conversations. sparks & honey offers brands cultural innovation workshops, reports and consulting services as well as culturally infused social media and real-time content activation. sparks & honey is a part of Diversified Agency Services, a division of Omnicom Group Inc.

About Diversified Agency Services
Diversified Agency Services (DAS), a division of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) (www.omnicomgroup.com), manages Omnicom's holdings in a variety of marketing communications disciplines. DAS includes over 200 companies, which operate through a combination of networks and regional organizations, serving international and local clients through more than 700 offices in 71 countries.

About Omnicom Group Inc.
Omnicom Group Inc. (www.omnicomgroup.com) is a leading global marketing and corporate communications company. Omnicom's branded networks and numerous specialty firms provide advertising, strategic media planning and buying, digital and interactive marketing, direct and promotional marketing, public relations and other specialty communications services to over 5,000 clients in more than 100 countries.