Solve recently promoted Rebecca Underwood to Associate Director of Connection Strategy. Joining Solve six years ago as her first job at an advertising agency, Underwood hit the ground running, immersing into many facets of the Connection Strategy group. From target definition, audience research, media strategy/buying, optimization and playing a key role in new business, she quickly established herself as the cornerstone of Solve’s media team. “Rebecca’s tenacity and curiosity have fueled her meteoric development and established her as a true expert among clients and agency teammates,” says Corey Johnson, Solve President/Founder. “Since day one, she’s brought passion to everything she does – and it’s been infectious within our culture.” In this new role, Underwood will continue contributing to overall strategic efforts while helping lead the Connection Strategy department.

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“Just Yesterday” Highlights Inequalities In Our Recent Past

Weisman Art Museum, on the University of Minnesota campus, recently installed an outdoor public art exhibit calling attention to racial inequality in a fresh, provocative way. Titled Just Yesterday, the series uses iconic pop culture references to put systemic injustices from our recent past into context—injustices that continue to oppress communities of color to this day. The eye-catching, vibrant layouts and gut-punch-style messaging are meant to create reflection and conversation. Launched May 17, 2021, the 60-foot wraparound mural covers the Weisman’s exterior façade. Just Yesterday is part of Solve’s ongoing commitment to address diversity and inequality. The idea was developed by agency employees and interns (led by Mike Gaines and Maggie Williams) last summer in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. Read more about the project here. 

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Modeled after the Effie Awards competition, the Effie Collegiate program educates and inspires tomorrow’s marketers with real-world experience. With years of Effie judging experience in-hand, Solve Director of Account Management/Partner Ryan Murray recently joined a national panel of industry professionals from the likes of Facebook, PepsiCo and Unilever, as well as other agencies, to judge student team submissions. With Bose serving as the client, the competition provided a unique opportunity for students to execute holistic marketing plans geared toward actual marketing challenges. “It was an honor to serve as a judge for this program,” says Murray. “It’s more important than ever we find ways to pay it forward with the future leaders of our industry, and the Effie Collegiate program is an invaluable chance to do just that.”

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StrawberryFrog, Grey/NYC Vet Increases Leadership Role

Just over a year after joining Solve as Group Creative Director, Brian Platt has been promoted to Executive Creative Director. Platt quickly earned the respect of his teammates and established himself as a key player in Solve’s growing creative department.

Despite being hired during a pandemic, Platt immersed himself into the Solve culture. In addition to driving success for his clients, his contributions have included mentoring, recruiting and spearheading Solve’s acclaimed #DontMoveToMinnesota WFH Internship last summer. Prior to Solve, Platt held stints at some of the industry’s most decorated agencies, including StrawberryFrog, Grey and Euro RSCG in New York.

“Brian’s been a wonderfully collaborative partner since day one,” says Sean Smith, Solve Executive Creative Director/Partner. “Embracing the unprecedented challenge of not being able to meet many of his co-workers in-person over the past year, Brian’s led by example, consistently striving to elevate our thinking and output,” Smith added.

“Despite joining the agency during a WFH phase, Solve welcomed me right from the start,” said Platt. “When you’re part of an environment where everyone’s focused on creating amazing work together and setting each other up for success, there’s seemingly no limit to what we can accomplish,” Platt added.

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As part of its ongoing commitment to education and cultivating up-and-coming talent, Solve sent four team members – Robert Atkinson, Shaina Gillmann, Miranda Lawler and Yoshina Okamoto – to this year’s 4A’s Pitch Bootcamp. Designed to give young advertising professionals a hands-on, new business client experience, participants are broken into competing teams and responsible for developing a holistic pitch presentation against a real client’s brief. The program runs nine weeks and serves as a crash course on how to build a strong pitch from the ground-up. This year’s client was Hippy Feet, a socks and clothing brand dedicated to supporting the homeless through providing transitional employment.

Working with teammates from across the country, the program gave participants a first-hand glimpse at juggling a new business pitch with day-to-day client work. “I balanced this with a lot of coffee and determination. Working 30+ hours a week on top of my regular schedule was definitely a tough experience that led to a lot of late nights and early mornings, but with the support of my teammates as well as my peers at Solve, I was able to make it past the finish line,” says Okamoto.

Especially given the virtual nature of the bootcamp, the significance of communication during a pitch was also apparent. “Overall, I’ve realized how important over-communication is and how important it is for everyone in your group to feel confident in their voice, especially as junior-level professionals,” says Gillmann, who was part of the winning pitch team. “We worked through it and really got good at communicating with each other.”

All-in-all, the experience proved to be a rich one that everyone will remember as they continue forging their career paths. “I was able to have complete ownership over sections of the pitch deck, refine my presentation skills and meet and work together with a number of interesting and hardworking early career advertisers,” added Okamoto.

Congrats to our four team members on a pitch well-done.

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