TM Advertising today announced that it has hired three new account planners to the agency’s planning department. Kristen Knape joined as an associate planning director. Prior to TM Advertising, Knape was the lead strategic planner at Moses Anshell in Phoenix. Her other agency experience includes stints at Cramer-Krasselt and GSD&M. Another new addition, Kristin Kline, joined the agency in December as an account planner. Kline most recently was with Publicis where she worked on accounts including Denny’s, Sauza, Curves and GlaxoSmithKline. Her other agency experience includes GSD&M and nFusion. Holly Gray has also joined the planning department as an account planner. Prior to planning, Gray was the agency’s new-business manager. Genevieve Polito will take over as TM Advertising’s new-business manager. Polito was an account executive on Superpages.com before joining the new-business team. All will report to Dave Weaver, chief strategic officer, who has been leading the agency account planning and new-business team for more than 18 months.

“These recent hires reflect the agency’s continuing commitment to the importance of strategic planning,” said Weaver. “Given the changing media landscape and state of the economy, our clients like American Airlines and Nationwide Insurance need solutions that transcend mere advertising to reach people – and to move them. The need in today’s challenging climate is to create heroic business ideas that move brands and businesses forward, while also changing the very culture that we live in. Given this need, our planning department is growing and we expect it to continue in 2009.”

“It’s great to be back in Texas and working with such a great agency,” said Knape. “This is a fantastic opportunity for me to come back to my roots and to join a growing department where there is a lot of latitude, and where every person will have an impact on what planning means for the agency.”

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