After helming holding company Tomorrow for just seven months, former Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal & Partners founder Jon Bond is joining social media agency Big Fuel as CEO and equity partner. The move is indicative of Madison Avenue’s recognition that social media has moved beyond the playground of gurus and wannabes.
Bond will take over for Big Fuel CEO and Founder Avi Savar who will shift his focus towards the agency’s creative vision and growth. The agency, which counts among its clients McDonald’s, Colgate-Palmolive, Fisher Price, Budweiser and recently won General Motors, plans to add 200 staff in the early part of the year.
To aid Big Fuel’s endeavor of rapid growth, Bond has hired New York investment banking services firm Edminston Group to assist the agency raise the necessary funds needed for expansion.
While social media has grown out of its diapers, it’s unclear whether or not a traditional agency veteran is the right person to fuel a social media agencies growth. Conversely, this might be exactly what social media needs to continue its growth from infancy to maturity.
Of social media’s place at the marketing table, Bond told Mashable, “I think this is the fourth seat, next to the media agency, the digital agency and the branding agency. I’d say make room.”
Along with Richard Kirshenbaumm Bond, in 1987, co-founded Kirshenbaum & Bond which was recently acquired by MDC Partners and is now known as Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal & Partners.
Of his decision to join Big Fuel versus following his original intention of building a holding company – with $100 million raised from investors – full of social media entities, Bond told The New York Times, “It became clear social media would be at the center of the world. We never closed any deals and we never spent the money.”
All of this begs the ongoing question; is the right approach to marketing and advertising an unbundled one or an integrated one? Are specialized firms like Big Fuel the future of social media’s growth? Or will the practice simply permeate the hallways of traditional agencies that deem the area of expertise necessary and integral to servicing their clients?
