ICRAVE, a Manhattan-based Experiential Design and Branding studio, has hired Gary Krivin as the company’s Chief Operating Officer. Starting in September 2013, Krivin will develop internal growth strategies aimed at forging new partnerships and business opportunities that build the firm’s digital portfolio.
Krivin brings extensive knowledge of planning and executing integrated digital marketing initiatives to ICRAVE, having previously worked with top tier digital agencies and Fortune 500 brands that include AKQA; R/GA; Kirshenbaum, Bond and Partners; Coca Cola; Citigroup; CBS; and Bank of America. Krivin takes a results-driven approach to develop new revenue and growth opportunities for clients in both domestic and international arenas.
With the rise in consumer adoption of social and digital technologies, the line between brands’ online and physical worlds has blurred. Client needs are shifting as brands are faced with the challenge of creating consistent consumer experiences that span from the digital platform to the three-dimensional built world. Krivin’s digital expertise will expand ICRAVE’s product offering and position the company strategically to deliver a comprehensive designed consumer experience that spans from the digital to the physical experience.
“While ICRAVE has designed many successful venues, we do not view our work as interior design.” notes founder Lionel Ohayon. “We design experiences that reflect a company’s fundamental value set to achieve a meaningful brand-consumer interaction.” This design approach has application beyond the built world, offering ICRAVE the opportunity to explore each touch point a consumer has with a brand, with the goal of designing a unified, branded experience around each type of interaction.
“We are well positioned to develop complementary products and services that deepen connections between ICRAVE’s clients and their customers in today’s digital economy,” notes Gary Krivin. “It’s an honor and privilege to help lead ICRAVE to its next level of development by scaling it’s operating model and expanding market share both domestically and abroad.”
About ICRAVE:
ICRAVE is a creative and fearless experiential design and branding studio fueled by innovation and interaction. Over the last ten years, founder Lionel Ohayon has grown ICRAVE from a two-person operation into a 40+ person, international award winning studio. ICRAVE’s work has been fueled by a quest for reinvention. In that stream the studio has been noted with the revival of the Meatpacking District, reinventing the airport experience in T5 for Jet Blue and the redevelopment of airports for Delta introducing the iPad programs across many airports across the continent. Domestically, ICRAVE is responsible for some of the most iconic nightlife venues of the last decade and a roster of many of the country’s most celebrated restaurants and hotels. ICRAVE’s clients include Starwood, The W Hotel, MGM, Disney, Hilton, the One Group, EMM, OTG, Delta China Grill Management. Recent projects include LAVO Restaurant and Nightclub in Midtown Manhattan, the STK Restaurant brand in New York, Las Vegas, Miami and LA and Catch in New York’s Meatpacking District. Recently, ICRAVE has pioneered the transformation of airport terminal design. Working closely with OTG Management, the firm has delivered groundbreaking designs at LGA Terminals C and D, MSP Concourse G, Toronto Pearson International Terminals 1 and 3, as well as JetBlue’s Terminal Five (JFK). ICRAVE’s current project roster includes a new hotel in Amsterdam, the BMB: a hotel and event center in New York City and MADE Market, a new prototype food & beverage concept for DoubleTree Hotels.
