Hyperfactory Gains Publicis Mobile Executive

After eight years building skills in brand marketing and mobile activation, Publicis executive Angela Steele is moving to pure-play mobile agency, The Hyperfactory. She joined the company as senior vice president and global strategist and will work in the Chicago office.

In her new job, Steele plans to lay the groundwork for a “long-term mobile marketing infrastructure,” she told ClickZ in an interview. “Mobile is becoming part of clients’ communication mix, ” she said.

Steele said she will work to establish best practices and mobile marketing campaigns that brands can buy into on an ongoing basis.

She said she also aims to help clients understand the role that mobile can play in delivering measureable business results.

The Hyperfactory was founded in Aukland, New Zealand in 2000. Its clients include Toyota, Motorola, and Vodafone.

The agency caught Steele’s eye during her tenure as vice president, mobile activation director at Starcom, a unit of Publicis, and U.S. regional director for Phonevalley, a position she moved to last spring. Phonevalley is a mobile agency Publicis acquired in 2007.

“They are longstanding leaders in the space and they are very established throughout the world,” Steele said, referring to The Hyperfactory.

As mobile blends more with online and traditional media, Steele’s branding experience will be valuable. Of her eight years at Publicis’ Starcom, she spent three working in mobile. Her work includes helping Nintendo launch its Wii game console. The campaign included custom cross-media integration programs across several media platforms.

Steele is optimistic about what The Hyperfactory promises. “I was attracted to what the Hyperfactory was doing in the space, and the potential of what The Hyperfactory was doing in the U.S.,” she said.