Blue Chip has added to its senior-level talent base with two key hires. Valerie Williams-Sanchez, Ph.D., a veteran marketer and educator, has joined as Vice President, Cultural Intelligence and Relevance. And Ann Yun, a longtime creative leader at such stalwart agencies as FCB and Wunderman Thompson, has joined the agency as Group Creative Director.
Valerie Williams-Sanchez will help Blue Chip teams apply a broader consumer lens to client brands while elevating the agency’s overall fluency in America’s evolving social fabric. She has worked across the marketing industry for more than 20 years, including partnership marketing for Disneyland and product launch planning for Volvo. She has also led communications for Columbia University Irving Medical Center and The Williams Institute.
“Ultimately, the most powerful multicultural influence an agency can bring to clients is its own reorientation,” said Williams-Sanchez, who teaches a seven-point cultural perspective. “To enable clients to articulate brands in ways that are more meaningful in a changing America, we’re going to develop multicultural fluency throughout Blue Chip.”
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Ann Yun brings more than 30 years of business, consumer, and shopper marketing experience to Blue Chip’s creative team. Working at such agencies as Havas, FCB, Wunderman Thompson, and VMLY&R Commerce, she developed a rich background in emerging and traditional media creative for consumer products, from Nestle and Kraft to Winn-Dixie and Home Depot.
“It feels great to be back in an independently owned agency,” said Yun, who freelanced on several campaigns before joining Blue Chip. “I’m working with many smart, down to earth people with grit and drive who have been here for at least 10 years. We collaborate with ope minds, and nobody needs approval to try out a fresh idea; we just do it. I believe I can really make a difference here.”
Williams-Sanchez and Yun join during a growth spurt for Blue Chip, which has established itself as one of America’s premier brand and retail agencies over the past 40 years. In the past year, Blue Chip has added 15 clients with assignments including lead brand positioning and creative for Splenda, shopper marketing for E. & J. Gallo Winery, shopper marketing for Hershey’s ONE brand and media planning/buying for Fellowes air purifiers. Meanwhile, Blue Chip has launched a tech division called Bloomaze, which develops software and systems that make marketing more efficient for a wide range of businesses.
“Increasingly, brands’ opportunities for growth depend on consumers they may not recognize or cultivate currently,” said Jamie Olson, President of Blue Chip. “Valerie and Ann give us another leg up in identifying new opportunities within consumer culture and bringing brands to life in creative ways that matter. They will help us see, sense, and speak more meaningfully to a broader, more nuanced world.”
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