Karen Staughton joins Portland leadership team

Independent digital creative agency AnalogFolk announced today the appointment of Karen Staughton as associate director, strategy for the agency’s Portland office. The new hire continues AF’s investment in top strategy talent as it closes out a successful year of new biz including landing AOR duties for Nike U.S. Football, Blink Fitness (Experience AOR) and Guardian Life (Digital AOR). Based in Portland and reporting to AnalogFolk partner/managing director Kunal Muzumdar, Staughton will be responsible for leading strategy for current PDX clients – including Nike U.S. Football and Nike Training – as well as new business opportunities. "We are incredibly excited about Karen joining the AnalogFolk family,” said Muzumdar. “Her background is impressive, having worked on brands that influence culture like Coca-Cola, Spotify and Columbia Records. She is interesting and insightful, and always makes the work better. Karen has already become an integral part of our team and we look forward to her helping our continued growth in Portland." A digital marketing strategist for over 12 years, Staughton has worked on both the agency and client side in the US and abroad for global music, entertainment and lifestyle brands. Most recently, she was a senior strategist at Swift Agency in Portland, where she worked on adidas, PayPal, YouTube Music and Blue Apron, providing category, consumer and cultural insights to creatively solve business problems while strategically building the brands in social and digital. Prior to Swift, Staughton spent time on the client side as Head of Marketing at Spotify UK (London), responsible for leading all consumer-facing marketing programs in the UK including the first-ever UK brand campaign, which went on to win multiple awards. Working closely with EMEA and US counterparts, Staughton developed local strategy and campaigns to achieve brand and business objectives for the priority market. Before that, Staughton was digital & communications director at Cornerstone Agency (London) where she led strategy and creative campaigns for Converse and Coca-Cola. Earlier in her career, her first stint on the client side was at Columbia Records (Sony) in London as head of digital marketing. While there, Staughton established and developed the label’s digital team – responsible for all digital marketing, planning/strategy and social teams that oversaw a roster of 90+ artists – and delivered multiple award-winning campaigns including Calvin Harris and Daft Punk. Commenting on her new role, Staughton said: “I met with the team in Portland and immediately fell in love with their approach to the work. The agency feels like a grown up start up, and the small but perfectly formed PDX office is teeming with ambition, talent and a spirit of collaboration I haven’t experienced before. Of course I’m excited to dive into the work – new clients, new problems and new solutions – but I’m most looking forward to helping shape how the agency grows at such an exciting time for our clients and the industry.”