Young & Rubicam Brands in Irvine, the county’s largest advertising agency, has a new chief.
Rick Eiserman, who’s been with Y & R; for 10 years, was named as head of the Irvine office as of this week.
He replaces David Murphy, who resigned from Y & R; in November to take a job as president of Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide Inc.’s Torrance office.
Eiserman has held various positions in account management and new business at Y & R;, a unit of Britain’s WPP Group PLC.
He’s moved to Orange County from the East Coast, where he was chief executive at BrandBuzz, a marketing arm of Y & R; in New York.
Eiserman also was president of Big, an interactive game company owned by WPP.
He cofounded BrandBuzz in 2000 and has been chief executive since 2004. The unit has about 60 workers and yearly billings of about $100 million, according its Web site.
Prior to BrandBuzz, Eiserman spent four years at Y & R; New York.
Y & R; made other changes at its Irvine office.
Dan Olson, managing director at Wunderman, a division of Y & R; that handles digital, event and direct marketing, expanded his role to chief operating officer. Olson, who joined Wunderman Irvine in 2001, will oversee Y & R; and Wunderman.
Y & R; said it created the new position to oversee marketing programs that use several of its divisions, including advertising and interactive marketing.
Eyes will be on Eiserman, whose challenge is to bring in more business.
Y & R; has had some big losses, including Sony Electronics Inc. and Ford Motor Co.’s Jaguar cars unit, which accounted for a combined $200 million in billings.
The shop’s most recent wins include Beverly Hills-based Hilton Hotel Corp., worth about $40 million to $50 million.
