Public Label adds to its executive leadership team, naming Josh Baze its EVP of strategy.

Baze was promoted to the role, where he will oversee planning and strategy at the Toronto and Boulder, Colorado-based integrated advertising and shopper and experiential services shop, which counts Progressive, Mars Wrigley and Adidas among its clients. He joined Match’s recently launched Public Label team in March.

Prior to Public Label, Baze was chief digital officer for Chicago independent creative and technology agency Schafer Condon Carter. Prior, he held the post of EVP planning and strategy for PR house Edelman, also in Chicago.

Brian Cohen, CEO of Public Label and Match Retail, tells strategy the role is relatively new: while the agency has had strategy leads in the past, none were at this level or with Baze’s pedigree, he says.

While Cohen says the hire was partially driven by client wins, he did not disclose any specific one.

Cohen says the appointment was always on Public Label’s roadmap given the shop’s philosophical approach to hacking cultures and understanding the nuances of human behaviour.

“His views on how cultural trends and behaviours are driving consumer and shopper choices aligns perfectly with what we are building at Public Label,” Cohen says, adding that he and Baze have a shared appreciation for consumer and shopper data.

As EVP of strategy, Baze will complement Brian Kittelson, the agency’s Minnesota-based EVP brand strategy and commercialization, adds Cohen.

Over the course of his career, Baze has helped with planning corporate intranets and closed social networks for brands like Bayer, Pizza Hut and Sprint. He has also managed marketing communications efforts for large brands across numerous social media platforms, from TikTok to SlideShare.

Baze has also helped create mobile strategy and e-commerce programs for CPG companies including Kraft, Kimberly-Clark, AB-InBev and Mondelez.