September 3, 2014
New York, New York

For immediate release

Verso Advertising, Inc., a New York-based full service advertising agency specializing in the publishing industry, announces today that Martha Otis, Senior Vice President, Advertising, of Hachette Book Group, will be joining Verso Advertising as President on October 1, 2014.

Otis has been at Hachette (formerly Time Warner Trade Publishing) since 1994, managing a 30-person in-house advertising agency, where she handled all media-buying, creative, and execution for thousands of ads and almost 2,000 New York Times bestsellers, including nearly 350 New York Times #1 bestsellers. Prior to Hachette, Otis served as Vice President, Advertising and Promotion for the Simon & Schuster trade group.

Denise Berthiaume, President and owner of Verso Advertising, will relinquish day-to-day management responsibilities for the agency to become Chairman and owner as of October 1st.

Michael Kazan, Vice President and Managing Director, will be retiring from Verso after ten years with the agency. During his tenure at Verso, Kazan has had a vibrant and decisive role in building the business to become the pre-eminent advertising agency serving the book publishing industry.

Says Berthiaume of the transition, “This is the perfect match of experience and drive to lead the agency to a whole new phase of growth. Martha brings with her more than 30 years of marketing and advertising experience, and a thorough understanding of the role advertising plays in breaking out new voices and taking bestselling brand names to a new level. She has played a critical role in the publishing of such major bestselling authors as James Patterson, Nicholas Sparks, David Baldacci, Joshua Ferris, David Sedaris, J.K. Rowling, Tom Wolfe, Donna Tartt, Kate Atkinson, Sebastian Junger, and many others. We can’t wait for Martha to join the Verso team, and we anticipate she will hit the ground running on October 1st.”

Founded in 1989, Verso Advertising has built its reputation on successfully helping publishers market their books. Led by veterans of the book advertising industry and complemented by a young, talented staff drawn primarily from publishing and the arts, the agency has a current client list of more than thirty trade and academic accounts, including some of the most distinguished names in publishing.

In Memoriam: Seamus Heaney

1939-2013

There are the mud-flowers of dialect
And the immortelles of perfect pitch
And that moment when the bird sings very close
To the music of what happens.

                                                                                   —from “Song”