Advertising agency AKA is launching an office on the West Coast.
The Los Angeles office will be headed up by Joaquin Esteva, formerly the client services group director for AKA NYC, and will work with a number of West Coast-based clients, including the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. It joins AKA offices in New York, the United Kingdom and Australia.
“We are excited for the opportunity to partner with the wide array of world-class arts organizations, cultural institutions and tourist attractions throughout the West Coast and bring AKA’s wealth of advertising and media expertise in the arts and culture sector,” Esteva said in a press release.
The Los Angeles operation will eventually be sharing physical office space and resources with digital marketing agency DMS, part of the AKA group.
The announcement comes on the 10th anniversary of AKA’s formation as an agency. In New York, the agency has also announced the appointment of Robert Jones as the head of theater and Cher Nobles as vice president of business intelligence.
Jones, who joined AKA in May 2020, came to the agency after most recently working as director of marketing and communication at Emerson Colonial Theatre. He has managed branding and campaigns for more than 80 shows, events and institutions.
Nobles, who joined in February, formerly worked as the director of data science, marketing insights and analytics at RPM. She has more than 20 years of experience working in entertainment marketing research and analytics
During the shutdown of Broadway shows and other entertainment venues, the AKA New York staff has been reduced by about 25%. The number of team members who have been temporarily furloughed fluctuates based on client needs, according to a spokesperson.
AKA’s New York clients include Broadway shows such as “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” “Tina” and “Come From Away,” as well as cultural institutions such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Opera and The Frick.
The agency is now seeing “increased requirements” from clients such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art as it prepares to reopen, according to the spokesperson.
