Steve Isaacs, Howie Kaplan and Kimberly Leass have joined Hollywood-based agency Legion Creative to assist the management team to bring a “silo-free approach to the traditional agency model and develop opportunities that leverage an integrated storytelling method across social, digital, and print,” according to the agency.

“As we continue to work with the world’s most well-known studios and franchises, building a world class team with untraditional, outside-of-the box experience and thinking is a huge priority, and will definitely set us apart from the rest,” said Suki Bains, CEO and co-founder of Legion Creative, in a statement. “Howie, Kimberly and Steve bring to the table an unparalleled level of expertise, all with a drive to continue to push the envelope on what an agency like ours could and should look like — building a people-focused, social-first integrated agency, one story at a time.”

Legion Creative works with such clients as Walt Disney Pictures, Marvel Studios, Lionsgate, 20th Century Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures, HBO, Hulu and more. Isaacs, Kaplan and Leass are also coming on board to expand the agency’s offerings and support its theatrical business while broadening into streaming, television and video games.

Kaplan joins as executive vice president, strategy. He got his start in social-media strategy while working on NBC’s Emmy-winning digital team for superhero drama Heroes. He has since worked with such major brands and companies as Hasbro, Netgear, GameStop, NASCAR, KIA and Netflix, as well as major film, TV and video game franchises including the Marvel Cinematic Universe, DC Extended Universe (Birds of Prey, The Suicide Squad), Marvel TV, Star Wars, Star Trek, John Wick, Lost in Space, Deadpool, Xbox’s Halo and more. Prior to joining Legion, he worked at hi5.agency and Concept Arts.

Leass comes on board as executive vice president, accounts, having previously worked both in-house at MTV, USA and Bravo, as well as at multiple agencies, including Blister, bpg, Buster Design/Stun Creative/Known and more. She brings more than two decades of experience building, running, and growing businesses for creative agencies and network departments. Lease has driven agency expansions into streaming and social media that resulted in winning the contract to be HBO Max’s social agency of record, spearheading the launches of HBOMax and Paramount Plus, overseeing campaigns such as HBO’s Game of Thrones and Silicon Valley, AMC’s The Walking Dead, CNN’s Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown and FX’s What We Do In The Shadows. She’s also partnered with such clients as HBO, HBO Max, CNN, Paramount+, AMC, FX, Netflix, TBS, TNT and VH1.

Isaacs joins as executive vice president, creative, with previous experience across technology, design and animation. As creative director at Deep Focus in New York, he developed digital and social campaigns for HBO, AMC and Calvin Klein. As executive creative director and agency partner at bpg Advertising, he acted as the creative connection between the digital, print and AV departments, working on such major franchises as Jurassic World and John Wick, as well as on global 360 campaigns for Netflix.

“We look at every campaign as an adventure,” the three said in a joint statement. “But we’re not the heroes of the adventure — our clients are. We are trusted companions and guides in the journey, fighting alongside our hero every step of the way and slaying the dragons every campaign faces. Legion’s core value of creative collaboration is a perfect fit for us, because no one slays dragons alone.”

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