Einstein Noah Restaurant Group Inc. announced that it named foodservice veteran Jeff Keune to the new position of vice president of marketing and formed a partnership with Y&R Chicago as agency of record for Einstein Bros. Bagels.

Keune most recently was vice president of daypart development at Wendy’s/Arby’s Group Inc., where he held various marketing responsibilities during the past nine years. Previously he was brand manager at HJ Heinz and marketing strategist for Hallmark Cards. Keune has an MBA degree from Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University and a bachelor degree from Northwestern University.

As vice president of marketing, Keune will be responsible for leading and executing key marketing initiatives and have overall responsibility for product management and the marketing calendar. He will report to James O’Reilly, chief concept officer for Einstein Noah Restaurant Group Inc.

“As an experienced and innovative marketing professional, Jeff is a welcome addition to our team,” O’Reilly says. “With his hiring we are building on the significant progress we have made in growing our company and increasing awareness for our brands. We are driving transactions and traffic growth by investing in strong marketing programs to convert consumers into loyal customers, and we are accelerating growth of corporate stores and increasing our focus on expansion through franchising and licensing.”

In conjunction with Keune’s appointment to lead marketing initiatives, Y&R Chicago was named agency of record for Einstein Bros. Bagels and will be responsible for creative, digital, and media campaigns. Y&R was chosen in a bid process involving three other agencies.

“We were impressed with the integrated ideas the agency delivered, both on and offline,” O’Reilly says. “Creative and media were seamless, including traditional, digital, and social marketing initiatives.”