SAN FRANCISCO — Looking to bring what it calls a “new flavor” to its creative staff, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners has hired the award-winning French copywriting team known as “Fred and Farid.”
Fred Raillard and Farid Mokart won two Lions at Cannes in June for their Microsoft Xbox work out of Bartle Bogle Hegarty in London.
Agency co-founder and creative director Jeff Goodby said the two will likely work on Hewlett-Packard, SBC and Budweiser. They are expected to arrive in early October.
“I’ve known them for quite a while, and they got a lot more notoriety at Cannes,” said Goodby, who was jury president. The gold Lion-winning spot “Champagne,” in which a baby torpedoes out of a womb and eventually crashes into a grave as an old man, was pulled off the air in the U.K. after complaints. “Mosquito” won a bronze.
Goodby said he expects the team will bring overseas flair to the shop, “because they’ve worked in lots of different countries and in lots of different languages.”
Raillard and Mokart joined BBH in March 2001 after a stint at French agency CLM/BBDO. Their credits at BBH also include Levi’s “Rub yourself” campaign and work for an AIDS relief group. Raillard and Mokart could not be reached for comment.
Goodby has made several significant creative hires in the past year. Jamie Barrett left Fallon, New York, to become cd on the $300 million Saturn account; Harry Cocciolo returned to the shop after a hiatus from advertising; and Steve Luker rejoined partner Steve Simpson after a stint at Publicis & Hal Riney crosstown.
“We are leaning toward having more people [with international experience] in the future,” Goodby said. “It’s a tribute to the business in San Francisco that these guys are willing to come here.”
Goodby Looking for 'New Flavor' With Lion-Winning Xbox Team
