BBH L.A. appointed Zach Hilder as executive creative director, succeeding Pelle Sjoenell, who the agency named worldwide chief creative officer last week.
Hilder arrives at the agency from HUSTLE, the R/GA network agency he helped co-found two years ago to focus on Beats by Dre. He served as group creative director for HUSTLE and oversaw virtually all creative for the Beats account, including last summer’s “#StraightOutta” campaign, which he’s clearly quite proud of. Prior to HUSTLE, Hilder spent about a year serving as a creative director with TBWA\Chiat\Day L.A., working on such brands as Pepsi, Gatorade and adidas. Prior to that he spent nearly a year and a half with 72andSunny as an associate creative director, during which time he worked on the agency’s “The Replacer” campaign for Call of Duty: Black Ops II. Before leaving for 72andSunny, he spent five years with BBH New York as an associate creative director, working with brands including Johnnie Walker, Google, Axe and Levi’s. Prior to that he spent six years as a senior copywriter with Energy BBDO, where he worked on the agency’s Wrigley account, following two years as a copywriter with Hal Riney, where he worked on Subway. He started his career as a features writer for MTV.com in 1998, back when the “M” stood for music. By his own admission, Hilder may be best known for his “Fuck Photoshop” pencil, which he claims “has brought him not only internet fame, but also a small fortune on Etsy.”
“It’s always special to have a Black Sheep return to BBH. With Zach, we get a fantastic creative leader who’s accomplished amazing things since we first worked together at BBH NY,” said Sjoenell. “Having not only set up a whole new agency with HUSTLE but also produced some of the best and most famous work with Beats is a huge accomplishment – we’re thrilled to have him with us in L.A.”
“When I first joined BBH in 2007, I joined with the expectation of doing the best work of my life,” added Hilder. “That’s why everybody comes to BBH and that’s why I returned. Pelle has always been someone I’ve looked up to as a creative, he’s an incredible leader and friend. Once a black sheep, always a black sheep. I’m home.”