Veritas president and CEO Krista Webster (left) with Daniel Berzen, creative lead at Meat & Produce.
Veritas’ content and influencer division Meat & Produce has hired Daniel Berzen to be its first creative lead.
Veritas launched Meat & Produce earlier this year, an arm focused on facilitating the co-production of content between influencers and clients. Krista Webster, president and CEO of Veritas, says a creative lead for the division’s roughly 11-person team was always in the cards, but she was waiting for someone who could provide leadership not just for the team, but in helping clients move out of their comfort zone.
“We are resetting the way we feel about digital content, social, experiential and influencers and how they all come together,” Webster says. “At the core of that is having clients be a bigger part of an agile production house that incorporates influencers, who they’re used to briefing but not meeting. There’s a lot of things about that that are unique and not the way it has typically been done. Because of that, I really felt I needed someone who understood the different components and brings them together.”
Berzen has experience working in both above- and below-the-line environments, having spent the last four years as a senior creative at Mosaic, where he worked with clients including Budweiser, Coca-Cola, Rogers, RBC, Nike, Samsung, Nescafe and Up Cannabis. He also brings experience from digital and social agency Hooplah and Publicis.
Webster says the reaction to Meat & Produce since launch has been positive, particularly among influencers. She says the agency has been fielding requests from “hundreds” who want to be involved. Webster says a priority going forward will be to expand its capability to bring more influencers in-house to work in its co-working-style arrangement, as well as hire a lead that can focus on experiential and events. She adds that Veritas will launch another new division that will be “complimentary” to the work Meat & Produce does in the near future.
