Mocean Names Laura Likos President of Brand; Launches a New Operating Model Built For Brands Navigating Culture

Three-time Entertainment Agency of the Year appoints 72andSunny vet to lead brand expansion, with Publicis vet Ryan Bucci named Chief Creative Officer of the Brand practice

Mocean, a culture-first creative agency where entertainment and brand meet, announced the launch of its new See Change operating model, unifying the agency and studio across five core practices to deliver creative work for entertainment and brand clients.

To lead the new brand expansion, Mocean has appointed former head of 72andSunny LA, Laura Likos, as President of Brand. The agency also named Emmy & Webby-winning and D&AD Creative-ranked Ryan Bucci as Chief Creative Officer of Brand.

Mocean’s new operating model is grounded in a simple observation: audiences don’t separate entertainment from advertising. They distinguish between interesting and boring.

“Advertising agencies understand brands. Entertainment agencies understand how to move audiences. Mocean understands both,” said CEO Michael McIntyre, who built the agency from a 15-person boutique design shop in 2000 to a 150-person full-service operation. “That’s the difference between work people see and work people care about.”

With Likos as lead executive at 72andSunny LA, the agency returned to AdAge A-List status, achieved Little Black Book’s number one North American ranking, and partnered with clients including Amazon, Zillow, NFL, United Airlines, and L’Oréal.

“The best brand work has been borrowing from entertainment for years: the storytelling, the audience-first thinking, the craft,” Likos said. “Mocean doesn’t borrow from that system. It operates inside it. That changes the kind of work we can do.”

See Change: A New Operating Model Built to Navigate Culture

Mocean now operates as a unified agency and studio, integrating five core practices: Strategy & Creative, Social & Community, Content Studio, Design Studio, and Post Studio (including Theatrical & Streaming AV and MoceanFinish). Ideas move from insight to production within a single system, allowing for speed, efficiency, and more unified work.

Marketing Technology News: MarTech Interview With Fredrik Skantze, CEO and Co-founder of Funnel

The agency’s operating platform, See Change, defines how Mocean works: translating emerging behaviors, conversations, and platforms into creative systems that drive both audience engagement and business outcomes.

“Greg Harrison [Mocean’s Chief Creative & Marketing Officer] and I came at this from opposite directions; He built his career in entertainment, I built mine in brand,” said Bucci. “See Change is what happens when you merge the two.”

“The audience doesn’t care which side of the business made it,” Harrison added. “They care if it’s worth their time. Our new model is designed to make sure it always is.”

Mocean aims to expand on their portfolio of prior brand work for Samsung, UFC, NBA, PlayStation, Cicis Pizza, Ulta Beauty, and Disney World x Chevy, as well as current engagements with DC Studios, Waymo, The Cheesecake Factory, and North Italia restaurants.

Marketing Technology News: The Death of Third-Party Cookies Was Just the Start. Are You Ready for Consent Orchestration?

For North Italia, Mocean’s SXSW activation resulted in an eye-popping 913+ million impressions across socials and over 100 branded Italian food tattoos that adoring fans received at the block party. For the Cheesecake Factory, Mocean turned the brand’s owned and operated channels into an entertainment program, leading to a 60% audience growth and a 115% spike in engagement across the brand’s socials.

“Mocean has done a terrific job understanding what sets us apart as the leader in experiential dining,” said Donald Evans, Chief Marketing Officer of The Cheesecake Factory and North Italia. “They figured out how to make a 250-item menu, more than 30 legendary cheesecakes, and our iconic ‘brown bread’ part of the cultural conversation. They are masterful at helping us tell our brand story.”

“We’ve spent 25 years becoming experts at the hardest version of the attention game there is,” McIntyre said. “What a modern agency needs to be in 2026 looks exactly like what we’ve been building.”

Write in to psen@itechseries.com to learn more about our exclusive editorial packages and programs.

source https://martechseries.com/content/mocean-names-laura-likos-president-of-brand-launches-a-new-operating-model-built-for-brands-navigating-culture/