PETERMAYER Announces New Agency President

“We have been preparing diligently for this day for some time, and Michelle has proven herself to be the perfect leader to take this agency to the next level,” said Mark Mayer. “Both Josh and I felt the time had come to prepare the agency for the future in order to ensure growth. We’re confident PETERMAYER will have great success under Michelle’s leadership.”

Edelman joined PETERMAYER as vice president and strategy director in late 2013 and has successfully developed and grown the agency’s strategy division as well as the firm’s focus on leveraging its clients’ cultural capital as the basis for impactful marketing initiatives. PETERMAYER’s goal is “helping brands move people,” and Edelman has been the architect of the agency’s strategy-first approach to promoting its clients.

“I’m honored to be named the new president of PETERMAYER,” Edelman said. “Since its founding, the Mayer family has built a strong and enduring business that has created award-winning work and been financially successful while doing it. My goal is to grow the agency beyond the regionally-known entity it is today and establish it as a nationally-recognized firm. I’m confident we can accomplish this with the talent we continue to assemble.”

Prior to joining PETERMAYER, Edelman pushed the boundaries for many well-known brands. Her thought leadership on Dove’s Real Beauty campaign elevated the brand as a contemporary icon for beauty. Her experience also includes guiding strategic direction for brands such as adidas, Huggies, Allstate, Quiznos, Motorola, DIRECTV, Sun Microsystems and the San Diego Visitors & Convention Bureau. She was president and director of communications planning at NYCA, a boutique firm in San Diego, and served in executive management and strategic planning roles at Ogilvy Chicago and Leo Burnett USA.

With a focus on consistently producing high-level creative work to fulfill the agency’s strategic insights with compelling content, Executive Creative Director Desmond LaVelle joined PETERMAYER in 2017 from Facebook where he served as a global creative lead. Along with Edelman, the two look to build the agency’s book of business while also elevating its creative output and brand stature.

In 2019, AdAge recognized PETERMAYER as a “Small Agency of the Year” award winner, and the firm has a long track record of winning significant awards for its results-oriented work. From national Effies and Adrian Awards to New Orleans Ad Club and Press Club accolades, PETERMAYER has long been recognized as one of the leading firms in the region. But Edelman said she has her sights set even higher.

“New Orleans is already a hotbed of creativity,” Edelman said. “It’s only natural that PETERMAYER join the ranks of successful U.S. agencies that are ready to serve a changed client landscape that requires creative excellence, speed to market and market-bending insights. We’re moving the agency forward to meet all of those challenges.”

About PETERMAYER
PETERMAYER is an independent, integrated marketing agency founded in 1967. Today it is one of the largest full-service advertising, marketing and public relations agencies in the Gulf South and a recent winner of Ad Age’s Small Agency of the Year awards. PETERMAYER uses cultural insights to connect brands with people and create powerful results for clients. Its client list includes local, regional and national accounts, such as: CenturyLink, Ochsner Health System, Zatarain’s, Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Hancock Whitney Bank, The National WWII Museum, Coastal Mississippi Tourism and others. Visit www.peteramayer.com for more information.