NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - May 15, 2014) - Global digital agency Essence today announced the appointment of Oscar Garza to the position of director of programmatic and audience for North America. In this newly-created role, he will oversee the North American media teams to bring the best programmatic buying solutions to the agency's clients. Garza will join Essence's San Francisco office and report to Richard Mooney, partner and COO in North America.

Garza joins Essence from Electronic Arts (EA) where he served as Director of Acquisition, developing the programmatic audience targeting capabilities operated by the brand's in-house media teams. During his tenure, Garza led the acquisition media strategy on EA's direct-to-consumer properties such as Star Wars: The Old Republic and its ecommerce platform Origin. Prior to EA, he was the marketing manager at Vitrue (now Oracle Social).

"The rapid adoption of programmatic channels is allowing us to provide a new level of transparency, efficiency and measurement to our clients," said Christian Juhl, CEO of Essence's North American operations. "We expect to spend over $300MM in programmatic over the next year, working with leading partners in the industry. Oscar is a proven leader on both client and agency side, with deep expertise in building teams, creating new client/agency models, as well as integrating technology and measurement into audience buying. We're extremely excited to have him onboard and look forward to leading this industry-wide shift."

According to Garza, "I'm eager to take on this new role and tap into the robust resources and expertise that will now be at my fingertips. I have always admired the work done by the Essence team and welcome the new opportunities that come with being on the agency side of this business."

About Essence
Essence is a global digital agency and the world's largest independent buyer of digital media. We help top brands, such as Google, eBay, Expedia, and Barclays, earn valuable connections with their consumers. With expertise in data science, objective media, and captivating experiences, our mission is to make advertising more valuable to the world. The agency is more than 400 people strong with offices in London, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Singapore.

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