By The Internationalist

Congratulations to Eileen Kiernan and Brendan Gaul!

Eileen Kiernan, Global President — J3

Recently promoted to Global President of J3, UM’s dedicated Johnson & Johnson media unit, Eileen is charged with globalizing the company’s portfolio of megabrands through innovative and integrated marketing communications strategies. Now overseeing 550 employees around the globe, Eileen has already made her mark at J3, shifting the network from a media planning to an analytic planning approach by integrating data specialists into the core media team. Leveraging this new data-led approach and linking media directly to business results, J3 can now incubate real-time content for right time, personalized connections.

With over 20 years of experience spanning across brand stewardship, integrated marketing, creative strategy, business development and team leadership, Eileen brings a rich blend of purpose-driven creativity and diversity of thought to her role.   She says, “At J3, we have designed a new breed of media team that features data specialists at the core directed to unlock maximum creativity through powerful insights, using science in the service of art. This innovative way of operating gets me up in the morning.”

A realistic, she understands the challenges of the business.  “We live and die by how well we operationalize what we test and learn, at scale. Ideas come from everywhere, pilots happen in all markets all the time. Identifying what’s ripe and ready and then scaling and executing across geographies and businesses is where true transformation happens and it’s really, really hard to do well, but so rewarding.”

Prior to taking on her role at J3, Eileen served as the Global Chief Marketing Officer for UM, where she worked across all clients and disciplines globally to strengthen and enhance UM’s product offering and ensure the brand vision evolved in meaningful ways.  As Global CMO, Eileen also oversaw UM’s awards program, more than doubling the agency’s major award wins and shortlists in less than 24 months.

Born in Dublin, Ireland, Eileen has lived and worked in Ireland, the UK, Germany, Belgium and the United States.   She admits, “Working globally is something that matters a lot to me. Once your world explodes on the back of the insights a global marketplace can offer, it’s very hard to do otherwise.”

Before joining UM, Eileen was EVP, Human Experience Strategy at MediaVest.  She spent time at NBC Universal as Vice President of Integrated Sales Marketing and served for four years as the head of Integrated Marketing at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Her earlier years include Time Inc., Conde Nast and Newsweek, in various marketing roles.

Brendan Gaul, Global Creative Director — UM

Recently appointed as the head of all things creative at UM, Brendan brings a rich blend of authenticity and purpose-driven passion to his role as Global Creative Director and Head of UM Studios.

Brendan is charged with building custom, story-led marketing campaigns while also working to expand UM Studios across the globe.  His acclaimed work for clients such as Sony, United States Postal Service, BMW and Johnson & Johnson has made Brendan a creative force to be reckoned with in the media industry.

His most recent enterprise, Clean & Clear’s See The Real Me, embraces content as the key to reclaiming teen relevance. Joined by a mixture of celebrity supporters and social influencers, See The Real Me (currently being produced for U.S., Canadian and Indonesian markets) turns the spotlight on courageous, real girls as they individually take you on their journey of self-expression.  The latest US installment features 14-year-old Jazz Jennings, the first transgender woman to be named a spokesperson for a major global brand. The campaign has garnered over 38 million views across more than 118 pieces of content, generating over 200,000 engagements, and over 37,000 #SeeTheRealMe uses to date.

Before his time at UM, Brendan began his career at Armani Exchange in 1997, then was off to Sephora, serving as the U.S. Quality Director, developing creative consumer experiences for the brand’s U.S. launch. He then joined newly-acquired LVMH sister company DKNY, driving creative consistency during the acquisition. He landed at McCann-Erickson in 2002 as a Creative Director on Johnson & Johnson, and was tapped by UM in 2007 to develop J3, a dedicated unit servicing Johnson & Johnson. Throughout his career, Brendan has spent over 12 years developing creative work across 50 of Johnson & Johnson’s brands including Listerine, Neutrogena, Clean & Clear, Johnson’s Baby, Tylenol and ACUVUE.

In 2014, Brendan and his team took home the prestigious James E. Burke Agency Partnership Award (both Global and North America) for their Grow Your Game campaign for Rogaine, as well as Best in Show at the MMA Regional Smarties for the Sony UK Ultra HD TV Launch. His work on USPS Delivers the Amazing Spider-Man 2 garnered major press coverage and industry buzz in 2014.

Brendan firmly believes that harnessing the strengths of top partners is critical to successfully bringing stories to life for clients.  His out-of-the-box strategic thinking has allowed these ideas to become a reality, forging an unbreakable bond between brands and consumers.