Scott Hughes, former Sr. VP Strategic
Marketing, Development and New Media at EMI CMG, recently announced the
creation of The Next Agency, a new company specializing in strategy,
branding and partnerships. “Next will focus on creating partnerships between
media companies as well as between those companies and consumers,” Hughes said.
Hilary Rosen, chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of
America, said, “Scott Hughes is as creative and energetic as they come. He
is a thought leader and has been instrumental in positioning the Christian
music industry in general, and EMI CMG in particular, as being on the
cutting edge of marketing and technology”
EMI CMG is The Next Agency’s first client, focusing on strategy, strategic
partnerships and branding.
“Scott is one of the most innovative and forward thinkers in our industry.
His insights and work over the last eight years have been invaluable to me
as a leader and to our company. He has served EMI CMG, and for that matter
the entire Christian Music Community, well,” said Bill Hearn, CEO of EMI CMG.
As the second client of The Next Agency, Hughes will continue to support EMI
CMG, Word, and Provident as the brand manager for the WoW Series of
compilations. Hughes has managed the brand since its inception eight years
ago. To date, WoW has created in excess of $200 million in sales for
Christian and gospel music and exposed millions of new consumers to the
genres. Seven of the 19 releases have been certified gold, seven are
platinum and four are double platinum.
Hughes has served the music industry since coming to EMI nine years ago. He
was instrumental in partnering the industry with Time Life Music to create
the Songs 4 Life brand, which exposed millions of consumers to Christian
music, many for the first time. Hughes also helped TV First create the first
Christian music infomercial, “Keep The Faith,” which also exposed millions
of new consumers to Christian artists and music they had otherwise not
known.
In addition to serving on the GMA board for eight years, Hughes worked very
closely with the current presidential administration in conceiving the
“White House Salute to Gospel Music,” a concert hosted by President and
First Lady Bush from the East Room of the White House on Valentine1s Day
2002, which later aired on PAX TV.
Prior to joining EMI, Hughes worked as an associate at Zoetics, a boutique
direct response-branding agency based in NYC. Hughes headed up the agency1s
research efforts and worked on clients such as ATT Universal Card, Time Life
Books, Avon and Gevalia Café.
Contact Information:
The Next Agency
4302 Estes Road
Nashville, TN 37215
Phone: 615-400-4780
Fax: 615-298-1183
Email: shughes@thenextagency.com
