LOS ANGELES —CAA Marketing, jointly owned by Stagwell Media and Creative Artists Agency, has relaunched as Observatory Marketing, a move meant to signal a new chapter in the entertainment-focused group’s evolution.

The rebranding comes as the company expands its capabilities, moving into advertising, entertainment and consulting as well as marketing, drawing new clients such as Overwatch League and Esprit to a roster that already includes Coca-Cola, GAP and Virgin among others.

The redo has also spurred full-scale executive shuffling, yielding a team that now includes:

  • Jae Goodman, who most recently served as CAA Marketing’s co-head and chief creative officer, as CEO

  • Brian Dunbar, formally president of David&Goliath, as president

  • Longtime CAA Marketing executive Amia Lazarus as head of strategy & entertainment consulting

  • Content manager Judy Kreiter as head of operations

  • Executive content manager Chris Totushek as head of production & development

  • Content manager Carly Allen as senior producer

  • Executive creative directors Todd Hunter and Tony Fur as co-chief creative officers

  • Brendan Shields-Shimizu as group brand director

  • Erin Heyns-Stern as senior brand director

  • Andrew Kootman as finance director

“Over the last decade, CAA Marketing steadily moved from the outer edges of the marketing services ecosystem toward the center, growing with our brand clients as the roles of content and culture have become increasingly important to marketers,” Goodman said. “Observatory now serves as a lead agency for long-established and next-generation brands, acting as a strategic consultant to define brand purpose, then developing content-led brand platforms and fully-integrated campaigns.” 

The agency's revamp comes roughly seven months after Stagwell, the marketing investment company led by Mark Penn, bought a majority stake in it last September.

Stagwell’s investment in CAA was one of a multitude of acquisitions that the company has made since Penn, a former Burson-Marsteller chief executive, left his most recent job at Microsoft to start the firm with $250 million in capital. In 2016, the Stagwell Group bought a minority stake in Finn Partners while also creating a joint PR venture with the firm. More recently, Stagwell's acquisitions have included Nielsen’s TV pilot testing and mobile assets, the healthcare and consumer agency Scout and Targeted Victory, a GOP digital agency.