CHICAGO Geoff Edwards, longtime creative on Gatorade for Omnicom’s Element 79 Partners and, prior to that, Interpublic Group’s Foote, Cone & Belding, is taking a senior art director’s position with TBWA\Chiat\Day in San Francisco.
Edwards, 35, initially will be working on the agency’s adidas business. His sports-oriented work for Gatorade, including Michael Jordan’s “23 vs. 39” TV commercial, led to interest from TBWA\C\D.
“I was jealous of the Michael Jordan ad,” said TBWA\C\D North America creative director Chuck McBride. “I wanted to find a guy who loves the game and could bring us more credibility in that category.”
Edwards, who had been vice president, creative director at Element 79, cited the opportunity to work on adidas as well as other agency clients like Fox Sports Net as reasons for the move. He will report to McBride.
Edwards’ first job was at what was then Chiat Day Mojo in New York. He subsequently worked at DDB in Chicago on accounts including Anheuser Busch. That was followed by a stint with Spike/DDB, before he joined FCB in Chicago in late 1997. At FCB, he had a hand in spots including “Raptor vs. Raptor” with Vince Carter and “Party Call” starring Carter, Derek Jeter and Mia Hamm. He followed Pepsi’s Gatorade account to Element 79 in late 2001.
—with Eleftheria Parpis
TBWA\C\D Recruits Edwards for Adidas
