Our Founder

Joe Keenan

Joe Keenan is an industry leader with over twenty years in marketing for blue-chip brands and key non-profit organizations with areas of expertise in marketing/public relations communications strategy and consulting, strategic integrated marketing, experiential marketing, event planning, the LGBT segment and non-profit consulting/marketing.

Keenan earned a degree in Theatre Management from the University of Minnesota and started his career in hospitality marketing. After swapping the Minnesota winters for California palm trees, Joe joined the agency world at Event Management and Promotions and quickly became the Director of Business Development. Over the next several years, Joe held senior business development positions with Momentum Worldwide, Gigunda Group and GMR Marketing building and executing successful campaigns for a number of leading Fortune 500 companies including General Mills, TiVo, General Motors, Target, Mervyn’s, and Guinness.

In 2004, Joe created New Avenue Marketing to better direct his energy and more efficiently serve his clients and community. New Avenue Marketing is a full-service marketing and strategic communications firm changing the connection between brands and their target markets. In addition to the clients listed on this site, in 2009, Keenan created Green with Pride as an “event within an event” to showcase green products and services within pride festivals.

From 2014 to 2016, Keenan helped establish and grow the national LGBT/Multicultural practice for MWW PR, holding the dual role as MWW Vice President and President of New Avenue. While working with MWW PR, Keenan was a driving force on clients such as Amazon Studio’s Transparent, LOGO TV, The Danish Girl for Focus Features and others.

New Avenue is a Certified LGBT Business Enterprise through the NGLCC and has been included in Event Marketer Magazines “it” List of the top 100 agencies three times. Outside of New Avenue, Joe plays an active role in several community organizations and served eight years on the board of Outfest, home of the nations most prestigious LGBT film festival, with two as co-president. He has been a featured presenter at several conferences and workshops throughout the country and currently lives with his husband in Los Angeles.