Sentient appointed Dominic Viola (left) as MD of client services and Michael Spitz (right) as practice leader of strategy.
W2O Group subsidiary Sentient has brought on Michael Spitz as practice leader of strategy and Dominic Viola as MD of client services.
Spitz started on July 10 and reports to Jeff Rohwer, MD of strategy and innovation at Sentient. He is tasked with overseeing the strategic team at Sentient and integrating its services with other W2O offerings.
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“Everything around us is changing and it’s exciting,” Spitz said. “You can’t just be digital and can’t just be PR. When you’re thinking about providing value to clients you need to understand them and their audiences and be able to translate those insights into actually activating those audiences.”
He joins the agency after almost four years with Klick Health as VP of strategy. Earlier in his career, he was SVP of digital health at Edelman, MD of healthcare and life sciences at Zemoga, and VP of digital strategy at Ignite Health.
Viola, who joined Sentient in April, reports to the firm’s president Adam Cossman and leads the client service group, new business, and account teams.
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“First and foremost is getting more awareness out there and letting people know what we’re doing and what business we have [at Sentient] today,” Viola said. “Sentient and W2O are different. They think different, look at the world in different way, and attract a different type of client.”
Prior to joining Sentient, Viola was EVP and group management director at FCBCure. He has also spent time with Cline Davis & Mann, Centron, and Ogilvy CommonHealth over his career.
W2O acquired Sentient in December and has since grown from a firm specialized in analytics and media to a fully integrated marketing shop. Both positions were newly created as the agency has grown over the past year, Viola said.
This story was first published in PRWeek.
