Greg James

Greg moved to NYC in 2010 to establish a US presence for Cake, a leading European content and social marketing business acquired by Havas.

Having been a piece of Cake since 2001, he has a deep understanding of what makes integrated marketing work hardest today – and it always comes down to making both ideas and individuals interact and collaborate as one.

Greg began his career in film and theater, working at the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival before moving into public relations where he assisted in campaigns for brands including Nestle, Fox and a number of dot com start ups.

He oversaw Cake’s first Unilever win and went on to grow the portfolio to manage 15 individual Unilever brands and harness the discipline of CPG marketing to define a new planning approach within the agency itself.

Success at Unilever included double digit growth in the UK’s passionate and competitive tea business, and a partnership with Ben & Jerry’s which led to the creation of unique IP for the brand: An annual family festival that brought the brand’s sustainable culture and unique portfolio of flavors to life.

As Cake’s business continued to expand he led the launch of Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS across Europe.

For Vodafone, Cake created a branded content series taking a Vodafone show to air in 29 markets on TV, laptops and cell phones in the early days of streaming video.

Greg became the lead architect of Vodafone’s global music strategy – piecing together local plans into a unified international approach and leveraging global media and talent deals.

The Vodafone: Music Unlimited program was a global partnership with MTV, Last FM, a 20,000 person music festival in Cologne, Germany (not to mention in year two, Who Killed Summer? the world’s first made-for-mobile murder-mystery drama).

In his current role as Chief Strategy & Development Officer ay Havas Media, he's committed to ensuring that buying media is – somewhat ironically – the last thing clients do. Instead, he is a firm believer that owned, shared and earned impressions and engagement must be at the heart of what a media agency brings to the table.

He is hands-on with clients including LVMH luxury brands, Fidelity, Pinnacle Foods, NBTY and National Association of Realtors.

Greg is a news junkie, lives in Williamsburg with his partner, Carlos, and enjoys walks with Leonard their rescues dog, and fracas with Puppy, their rescue cat.