The integrated marketing agency Codeword, part of the fiercely-independent, female-led global communications agency WE Communications (WE), announced two new leadership appointments.
Suzan Clarke has been named VP, Editorial Director, and will lead a full-service editorial team that provides strategy, content, and production support for global tech companies like Google and YouTube.
A former ABC News journalist, Clarke’s communications background spans two decades. She has held senior editorial, content marketing, and communications roles at organizations including the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Columbia University.
“I’m drawn to a challenge, and I believe in the power of great marketing — which is, after all, great communication — to achieve specific results,” Clarke said. “My role at Codeword is a dream because it gives me the opportunity to help the world’s top technology brands on a range of important, engaging projects. As a bonus, I get to work with the nicest, smartest humans in the agency world.”
Jess Santini has been named Marketing Director, a newly established role at Codeword that entails building and executing dynamic marketing and communication strategies to champion Codeword as a leader in communications, editorial strategy, and content marketing.
Santini joined Codeword from Havas Group, where she led the corporate marketing and communications teams for Havas Media North America from 2017-2021 and Havas New York from 2021-2022. Santini previously operated 629 Media, where she employed a small team of marketing and communications consultants working primarily with clients in the culinary and hospitality category.
“Codeword has been around long enough to have established some very impressive clients, but still boasts that gritty, entrepreneurial start-up culture that I miss from my days as a consultant,” Santini said, adding, “I’m so excited to join this team and build their marketing department from the ground up at a time when they’re experiencing such tremendous growth. I hope to bring some much-deserved attention to their outstanding work with leading technology brands.”
Clarke and Santini join a rapidly expanding Codeword team, along with 23 other new hires since the beginning of the year. They’ll be working directly with the agency’s founding partner, Kyle Monson.
“The last couple years have obviously been tricky, for all kinds of reasons,” Monson said. “We’ve been really lucky to retain and add some great people during The Great Resignation, and to have so many longtime clients that support the agency and believe in our partnership. With leaders like Jess and Suzan joining the team, 2022’s going to be a big year for Codeword — hopefully we aren’t cursing ourselves by printing that in a press release.”
About Codeword
Codeword is an integrated marketing agency with a fast-growing, fast-moving team of writers, editors, designers, strategists, videographers, PR mavens, and even a few traditional marketers. Codeword develops smart marketing strategies, manages editorial and social channels, and drives news coverage for tech clients both big and small. A remote-first agency, Codeword is headquartered in New York City, with offices in San Francisco and Salt Lake City. Part of the WE Communications family, Codeword fosters an independent spirit with global scale and capabilities. Find us online at www.codewordagency.com or @codewordagency.
About WE
WE is one of the largest independent communications and integrated marketing agencies in the world. We’re all about people — both our clients and employees — and we believe in the power of communications to move audiences to positive action. Female-founded, female-led and fiercely independent, WE has spent more than three decades helping world-class brands tell technology-led transformation stories that shift perceptions and change behavior.
Our global reach includes offices in 21 cities, partner networks that expand our footprint and client capabilities, and a team of more than 1,200 media and content strategists, creatives and data scientists across our technology, health and consumer sectors. Our work with global brands like Microsoft, Honeywell, McDonald’s and Volvo has been recognized by Cannes Lions, PRovoke SABRE Awards and PRWeek Awards, just to name a few.
