Naked Communications adds Carla Serrano as Partner.

Naked Communications announced that advertising planning veteran Carla Serrano will join Naked Americas as partner, effective February 15. Serrano, who most recently served as chief strategy officer of TBWA\Chiat\Day, will play a key role on the leadership team, further enhancing the company’s strategic credentials and reinforcing its reputation for providing smart, objective 21st Century communications solutions.

Serrano will work alongside Naked partners Paul Woolmington and Neal Davies in the New York office, where clients have included American Express, Coca-Cola, Dunkin’ Donuts, Google, Johnson & Johnson, Kimberly-Clark, Kraft Foods, NBC Universal and Samsung, among others. Considered one of the industry’s preeminent contemporary planners, her addition reinforces Naked’s mission to be a catalyst for change in the marketing and communications industries.

“We searched far and wide to find the right partner,” said Woolmington. “Someone with strategic planning chops and entrepreneurial zeal as well as impressive brand and leadership experience. Carla exemplifies all of these things. We’re thrilled to have her on board as we continue to expand Naked’s footprint in the Americas, and more ambitiously, shape the future of our industry.”

A 20-year industry veteran and pioneer of the account planning profession in North America, throughout her career Serrano has worked with some of the world’s leading brands, including Sony, Apple, Nissan, Masterfoods and Pepsi, among others.

“I’m enthused to be joining Naked and to have the opportunity to work more upstream with clients in a strategically-objective way,” said Serrano. “I couldn’t resist joining one of the industry’s most respected and revered communications strategy consultancies. Our industry is rapidly evolving, yet so many companies are still trying to solve client problems with derivative and archaic solutions. I’ve always admired Naked for fearlessly adapting to change in real-time and for being one step ahead of the rest of the industry.”

At TBWA\Chiat\Day, Serrano created and fostered an integrated strategic unit that seamlessly aligned brand planning, digital strategy and communications architecture. Within her first six months, she led the agency to win multiple new accounts including Planters, Kahlua and Birds Eye. Serrano also worked closely with agency client Kraft as a strategic advisor, overseeing the creation of Being, a new unit of Omnicom Group’s TBWA to handle the growing partnership between the agency and the brand.

Previously, Serrano was president of Berlin Cameron United where she led key new business wins and managed global accounts, including Coca-Cola, Samsung and Moet Hennessy. She launched her Career at Chiat\Day in Toronto, and after a brief stint at BBDO, she returned to TBWA\Chiat\Day in New York, where she worked on new business and helped integrate the Disruption and Connections processes across different businesses and departments.

“We are restless to find the best industry talent and with our recent stream of hires including Lisa Seward Perry, Amy Sheil, Jamie Rosen, and now Carla, we are armed with even more firepower to grow the Naked brand and solve clients’ business problems,” said Davies. “We have the model, bench strength, resources and expertise to approach today’s communications challenges without bias, and to help clients rethink the way they allocate their resources, partner with agencies and achieve the maximum impact from their brand communications.”