Blippar Builds on Momentum and Expands Senior Team

Media Industry Visionary Mark Fortner Joins Leading Visual Discovery Platform to Drive Creative Strategy and Enhanced Mobile Brand Experiences


NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Dec 23, 2015) - Blippar, the leading augmented reality and visual discovery platform, today announced that Mark Fortner has joined the senior team as Executive Creative Director, Americas. Fortner brings with him 20 years of experience in media and advertising and played a significant role in the strategic growth and success of companies such as MediaCom, Viacom, FOX Sports and the launch of cable network, FX.

Fortner joins Blippar from MediaCom, where he held the role of Managing Partner, Head of Innovation and Branded Content. His creative leadership brought in a streak of new business wins that included ADT, DSW, eBay and A-B InBev. He was also directly instrumental in expanding the scope of work with many of the agency's key clients, including becoming Revlon's digital agency of record. As a result of his contributions, MediaCom was named U.S. Media Agency of the Year by both Adweek and Advertising Age in 2015. In the same year, the company was the top performer among all global media agency networks at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity where Fortner also served on the jury.

"I believe winning in mobile today is imperative for any brand, and Blippar is poised to enable advertisers to do so in ways that simply weren't possible before. Instead of being mobile intruders, Blippar helps brands deliver welcome mobile experiences -- by turning their owned assets into earned media," said Fortner. "Our industry is ripe for reinvention and Blippar is changing the way people interact with and discover the world around them. This is the future of marketing and I am thrilled to be joining the team."

Fortner will be responsible for leading the American creative team in creating breakthrough experiences for brands using Blippar's unique image recognition and augmented reality platform to drive business results. He will be working closely with the marketing and business development teams on consolidating relationships with brands to drive even more engaging experiences. Fortner will be leading the team in solving one of the greatest problems marketing has today -- creating mobile experiences that truly make an impact.

"Mark's impressive track record of helping companies grow and evolve is one of the many reasons we are so excited to welcome him to the Blippar team," said Ariff Quli, Chief Commercial Officer for the Americas at Blippar. "His award-winning expertise in creative strategy and innovation is exactly what Blippar needs as our American business expands. We are really looking forward to seeing how his leadership will take our work creating impactful experiences for brands to the next level."

About Blippar
Blippar™ is the world's fastest growing image recognition and augmented reality app. Utilizing proprietary, best-in-class image technologies, Blippar™ enables users to instantaneously pull interactive, informative digital content directly from the environment around them, their favorite publications, brands and objects via their iOS, Android or Windows devices. Since launching in the UK in 2011, Blippar™ has expanded rapidly, partnering with some of the biggest and most exciting media owners and brands in the world -- including Nestlé, Condé Nast, TIME Inc., Procter & Gamble, Kraft, Heinz, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Anheuser Busch, and Jaguar. To learn more, visit blippar.com.