- Becky Ebenkamp

NMA Entertainment & Marketing has appointed Mark Owens as president and partner as it positions itself as the first global ambassador for facilitating and streamlining brand and entertainment-property partnerships.

“Placement is now considered an integral part of a brand’s marketing strategy,” said Owens, a Hollywood marketing vet who most recently headed up NMA’s Vanguard Entertainment Division, which represents content producers and matches them with media sponsorships. “My job is to create that vision globally [and] bring in brands with a global footprint, which is a unique competitive advantage. It’s also where the business is going.”

A decade ago, marketers were mad for Madison and Vine mashups. The agency formerly known as Norm Marshall Associates has done its share of notable multi-platform integration deals for clients such as Hostess and Heineken in films like Casino Royale and Mamma Mia! Looking ahead, NMA expects marketers to stretch beyond borders for entertainment marketing opportunities. The agency has operations in New York, Boston, Beijing, Tokyo, London and Sydney.

Owens cited the rise of foreign TV shows, such as The Office, being adapted for the U.S. and other markets, and how films that once generated roughly a quarter of their revenues overseas could end up earning 65 percent of their box office internationally. NMA, he says, is the only agency that has a network of international offices. It also has a database dubbed EMOS for brand marketers to explore upcoming entertainment opportunities on a film-by-film basis.

Devery Holmes, long-time NMA president and CMO, has left the agency to concentrate on her own agency, Spark Alliance Marketing, which she developed as a division of NMA to represent content providers. (Spark will separate from the company.) Norm Marshall, who founded the privately held firm in 1979, will stay on, as will partner/CEO John Zamoiski, who joined in 2003. Also joining NMA will be Holly Beverly (Dreamworks, 20th Century Fox) as evp of the international division. Will Eide has joined the firm as svp of finance and operations.

Before running Vanguard, Owens spent four years as managing director for Ketchum PR’s global entertainment division. Prior to that, he was evp of Davie-Brown Entertainment, where he spent a decade creating award-winning promotions for Pepsi, Reebok, BMW and others.

“I think we need to lead the charge for where the industry is going,” Owens said of the Sun Valley, Calif.-based agency, and strategist is a role he’s led at DBE and other agencies. “Madison Avenue has a role and Wilshire Boulevard has a role, but the San Fernando Valley--we’re the boots on the ground.”