San Francisco based PR firm Landis Communications (LCI) recently announced three senior hires to expand its digital communications and marketing services.
The mid-sized agency, whose most recent wins include City CarShare, the California Society of Anesthesiologists and community engagement projects for Walmart, is stepping up its digital efforts, especially in social media and video.
Sean Dowdall, former CMO at Rabobank will take on the same position at LCI, as well as the newly created role of general manager. Dowdall’s previous experience includes digital channel management and PR for Rabobank, Wells Fargo and Bank of America. He will oversee the digital services expansion at LCI, as well as its financial management.
David Cumpston joins the firm as director of client services, and will be handling the accounts for Walmart, Troon Pacific, Northstar Memorial Group and the California Society of Anesthesiologists. In addition, Cumpston will support the company’s new business efforts. He joins LCI from Allison + Partners where he worked on campaigns and activities for companies including Best Western, Orbitz and Mozilla.
Possibly the most visible addition for the new digital outlook is Eric Steckel, who joins LCI as its new digital media strategist. Steckel was formerly as partner with digital media agency BARS+TONE and began his career as a broadcast journalist in Washington D.C. Steckel brings video production expertise to LCI, along with experience in 2D and 3D motion graphics, animation, social media, video seeding and online media buys.
“The addition of Sean, David and Eric to the LCI staff represents
our commitment to fulfilling the needs of all current and future clients,”
said David Landis, president and CEO of LCI. “This new team allows LCI to
expand digital, marketing, and video offerings as well as grow our mainstay
public relations and social media practice areas. Our ability to provide daily,
senior-level expertise on every piece of business is paramount to who we are and
we’re excited to leverage the team’s expertise as we continue executing our strategic
growth plan.”
While a push towards digital is the inevitable trend in the communications world, video capabilities for a boutique agency aren’t that common and it could be a valuable selling point for Landis. It’ll be interesting to see how many other mid-sized firms follow suit, as PR firms transition to become full fledged content providers, rather than merely generating it as earned media.
