NEW YORK, Sept. 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Horizon Media, the largest independent media agency in the world, announced today that it has hired John Koenigsberg as General Manager of Big. Koenigsberg as General Manager of Big. The hire is effective immediately and Koenigsberg will report directly to Gene Turner, EVP Chief of Horizon Next who oversees both Horizon Next and Big.
Horizon launched Big in February 2019, and the agency is designed to provide big resources to start-ups, e-commerce and emerging brands, high-growth companies that need partners who are completely vested in their mutual success. As such, a key differentiator for Big is that its compensation model is one hundred percent performance based.
In developing the concept and launching Big, Horizon understood that only such a committed partner could bring an integrated strategy, big thinking, and access to vast resources and marketing technologies that are essential for these ambitious companies to achieve their full growth potential.
Koenigsberg is charged with refining Big’s strategic offering, shaping its positioning in the marketplace, building out its leadership team and developing the agency’s roster of clients. He will also be active across the entire start-up ecosystem, including working with outside venture capital and private equity partners to launch e-commerce brands.
“It was vital that we found an entrepreneurial leader, someone with vision who could clearly articulate a bold growth strategy for Big,” said Gene Turner, EVP Chief of Horizon Next. “John is a proven brand builder who brings insight, innovation and creativity across every facet of the consumer journey. He has deep experience with all major industry verticals and has helped major brands improve their business outcomes through a more thoughtful use of data to drive more relevant content and messaging,” said Turner. “John has the vision we need, he is an entrepreneur at heart and was the unanimous choice of the team managing the executive search process. In short, he’s the ideal partner to help start-ups, e-commerce and emerging brands unlock their full potential,” said Turner.
Koenigsberg joins Big from VICE Media where he led North America Strategy and Operations capabilities and directed monetization strategy across their multi-channel footprint. In his five years at VICE Media, he built and led cross-functional teams spanning media planning, social, ad operations, sales operations and analytics, supporting the company in scaling and extending these capabilities globally. Prior to joining VICE, Koenigsberg served in key strategy roles at digital agency Razorfish, including overseeing full funnel media planning and activation for clients such as Starwood Hotels and Citi. He is the son of Bill Koenigsberg, Horizon President, CEO and Founder.
At Big, Koenigsberg will apply his broad expertise across all those verticals to help clients develop a holistic approach to data management and campaign deployment and optimization. He will help them to increase relevance across all campaigns and content marketing strategies, and help clients to develop custom reporting and analytics, all designed to help brands make faster, more informed decisions to drive improved business outcomes.
“Big sits at the intersection of data, content marketing and consumer engagement. Everything about the agency is designed to drive improved performance and business outcomes for clients,” said John Koenigsberg, General Manager of Big. “Data and digital disruption have created a world of endless opportunity. Big is a new model engineered and optimized to fully harness that potential,” said Koenigsberg. “It’s an incredible opportunity and I look forward to building nothing less than a world-class performance marketing organization.”
Horizon Media has been very active in moving beyond its core agency offering. In addition to continually adding new internal service offerings, in 2015, Horizon launched a new media agency, Canvas Worldwide, in a joint venture with INNOCEAN Worldwide. In 2016, Horizon turned its direct marketing division into a standalone entity, Horizon Next, since winning major clients UnitedHealth Group, Peloton and Safelite to name a few. Horizon recently launched a new full-service multicultural agency with Armando Christian Pérez (Pitbull), 305 Worldwide. The expanded management team of Big continues Horizon’s ambitious expansion into new and important service areas for its clients as it continues to grow market share.
About Horizon Media
Horizon Media, Inc. is the largest independent media agency in the world. The company was founded in 1989, is headquartered in New York, and has offices in Los Angeles and Toronto. With estimated billings of $8.7 billion and over 2,300 employees, Horizon is the second largest U.S. media agency according to COMvergence data.
Recognized as one of the world’s ten most innovative marketing and advertising companies by Fast Company, Horizon Media has been named Media Agency of the Year by MediaPost, Adweek and AdAge and is known for its highly personal approach to client service. Renowned for its culture, Horizon is also consistently named to all the prestigious annual Best Places to Work lists published by Fortune, Forbes, AdAge, Crain’s New York Business and Los Angeles Business Journal; including “Best Workplaces for Diversity,” “Best Workplaces for Women,” and “Best Workplaces for Millennials” honors.
Earning the industry’s highest honor, Bill Koenigsberg, President, CEO and Founder of Horizon Media, was inducted into the American Advertising Federation (AAF) Hall of Fame in 2019.
About BIG
Big is an entirely performance-based entity with a mission of delivering improved business outcomes for Start-ups, e-commerce and emerging brands. Big is a true business partner for its clients and is completely vested in their mutual success. Big gives these clients access to big resources and provides clients with integrated strategy, big thinking, and access to the most critical resources and marketing technologies that are essential for these ambitious companies to harness their full growth potential.
Big’s core offering is holistic data management, providing clients with customized access to brand strategy, consumer insights, trend analysis, social listening, customer journey mapping, channel planning, strategic media investment across all channels, SEO consulting, programmatic buying, content marketing, brand health, path to conversion analysis, reporting and analytics.
For further information please contact
Horizon Media
Stephen Hall
(212) 220-1744
shall@horizonmedia.com