SAN FRANCISCO: Peppercomm has named Stephen Corsi to the newly created role of chief digital officer.
Corsi started in the job on September 8, reporting to founder and CEO Steve Cody, with two direct reports. Corsi said he “plans to hire more [digital staff] over time.”
Corsi is tasked with leading and growing the firm’s social media marketing and paid search, SEO, web design and development, and video and creative services, Peppercomm said in a statement.
“They wanted to build up their digital capacity,” Corsi said. “The draw to Peppercomm was to really go back and build something from scratch.”
The first items on Corsi’s to-do list are winning new business and expanding the digital work of Peppercomm’s existing clients. He will be working on accounts including Ricoh, Sharp U.S.A. and agricultural chemical manufacturer Wilbur-Ellis. Corsi will also focus on training staff.
Corsi said he prefers working at comms shops — he was previously at Method Communications and Lewis Global Communications — to traditional advertising or digital agencies.
“I have worked for digital agencies, but PR agencies are better because they really understand the customer brand narrative and story better than any ad agency or digital agency,” he said. “That’s why I’ve been able to be successful in the past; PR agencies already get what clients are saying. A lot of digital shops are more tech-focused and ad agencies are all about the creative, and while creative is important, they sometimes miss the intent of what a client is trying to get across.”
After Corsi left Method in April, the firm hired Adrian Eyre as EVP and added an SVP role to support its enterprise practice, said CEO David Parkinson.
“We really enjoyed working with him and are excited to see what he does at Peppercomm,” Parkinson said.
Peppercomm’s revenue grew 2% to $9 million in 2019, according to PRWeek’s Agency Business Report 2020.
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