Three Seasoned Vice Presidents Join Moxie Interactive and Strengthen Agency’s Leadership Team

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Moxie Interactive, a division of Zenith Media Services and one of the top five interactive marketing agencies in the United States, announced today Paul Santello, Brian Mathena, and Sara Francis have joined its Los Angeles office as senior vice president, group communications director; vice president, group media director; and vice president, group account director, respectively. The executives collectively bring more than 31 years of marketing experience to their new positions and a history of excellence achieved through successful campaigns with leading brands.

The trio will play an integral role in developing and executing campaigns for 20th Century Fox. Santello will oversee all digital strategy and planning for the Fox Home Entertainment Business, while Mathena will oversee digital strategy and planning for 20th Century Fox Theatrical and Fox Searchlight. Francis will work closely with both media mavens to bring Moxie’s sophisticated creative and technology expertise to life.

“The caliber of these three executives both in terms of experience and fresh thinking is a rare find,” said Kris Zagoria, founder and chief executive officer at Moxie Interactive. “We take pride in the exceptional team we’ve put together. These additions complement our strategy of blending media, technology and creative experts to provide clients with rich campaigns that break new boundaries in fostering conversations between brands and participants.”

Prior to Santello coming to Moxie Interactive, he was working with Carat in the West Coast region as executive vice president, executive client director. At Carat Santello led account management, strategy and planning across all west coast accounts including New Line Cinema and New Line Home Entertainment, Hyundai, Kia, adidas, Jenny Craig, Echostar and Tourism Australia. Prior to that, his agency and client side experience encompassed both traditional and new media, spanning categories such as entertainment (The Walt Disney Company), consumer goods (Procter and Gamble, Kellogg’s, Gillette), Consumer Electronics/Technology (Gateway, Seagate), Financial Services (Charles Schwab, Bank of America) and retail (Eddie Bauer). He received his MBA from Indiana University and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Pennsylvania.

Prior to joining Moxie Interactive, Mathena worked at Carat, Los Angeles as their vice president, group media director, managing domestic and international relationships across automotive, athletic footwear and apparel, online music, dieting, entertainment and travel verticals. Mathena possesses expertise in targeting the youth market and knowledge of their respective usage of digital media. He spent a year in partnership with MySpace and former client, adidas, to develop and define new metrics for the social networking space with research experts TRU, TNS, Marketing Evolution. This was a part of a national effort known as ‘Never Ending Friending.’ Mathena holds a Bachelor of Science in Advertising from The University of Texas at Austin.

Francis came to Moxie from KTV Digital Media, where she was senior vice president of marketing where she established the digital marketing strategies, managed online publisher relationships, and positioned the company to be acquired. Prior to her role at KTV, she headed up the Los Angeles office of Deep Focus where she managed client services for such clients as New Line Cinema, Disney Pictures, Interscope Records, Buena Vista Home Entertainment and others. Before Deep Focus, she managed online at Miramax Films. Francis obtained her Bachelor of Arts in film from Vassar College.

For more information about Moxie Interactive, please visit www.moxieinteractive.com. For press inquiries, contact Abby Lurie (619) 234-0345.

About Moxie Interactive

Simply put, Moxie Interactive is brilliant marketing, digitally enhanced. One of the largest full-service interactive marketing agencies in the United States, Moxie's capabilities include communications planning, media planning and buying, search marketing, branded entertainment, digital advertising, ECRM, experiential and sponsorship services and campaign management. At the heart of the agency is its proprietary offering, Sunao. A Japanese word meaning the 'untrapped mind,' Sunao is a team of experts whose mission is to deliver innovation to clients through trend-spotting, consumer insights and analytics.

Moxie's award-winning digital team is focused on connecting people and brands across all screens. Current clients include Coca-Cola, Hewlett-Packard, Garnier, Maybelline New York, Nestle, Puma, The Home Depot, Verizon, and 20th Century Fox, among others.

Founded in 2000, Atlanta-based Moxie was acquired by Zenith Media Services, a Publicis Groupe Company, in 2006. Expansion has included additional locations in New York, Los Angeles and Poland. To learn more about Moxie, visit www.moxieinteractive.com.