An Expanding Hudson Rouge Adds Chief Strategy Officer Oliver Gibson and CD Luke Partridge

By Patrick Coffee 

Hudson Rouge, the WPP agency formed to serve Lincoln and best known for all those Matthew McConaughey ads, has hired two new key players.

Oliver Gibson (above right) joins the shop as global chief strategy officer and Luke Partridge (above left) will hold the creative director title, effective immediately.

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Gibson will oversee the Lincoln business across the New York, Detroit, Shanghai and Toronto offices while helping to develop the larger organization’s “strategic capabilities” and its approach to the Ford luxury brand, along with unspecified new business.

“We’re delighted to welcome Oli to the Hudson Rouge family,” said chief creative officer Jon Pearce. “He’s a unique kind of strategist who looks at the world from a perspective beyond advertising.”

The British native was formerly CSO at area consultancy Pure Growth and planning director at Grey, where he spent 5 years and worked across accounts including Febreze, P&G corporate, and the FDA’s anti-tobacco efforts. He contributed to the successful pitches for Hasbro and Diageo, and during his tenure at Grey his work won 7 Effies and 4 Lions.

Partridge freelanced at several New York-area agencies before becoming a member of the Hudson Rogue team, and his 20-plus years in the ad world also include stints at mcgarrybowen, Cutwater, GS&P and Cramer-Krasselt.

“Luke brings a terrific eye and expert craft to our team. Plus, the guy’s a race car driver, so he knows a thing or two about automobiles. We’re thrilled he’s on board,” Pearce added. So there’s that.

Hudson Rouge has been somewhat quiet in recent months, its biggest notable projects being last December’s McConaughey campaigns and this February’s Grammy’s activation starring blues singer Gary Clark, Jr.

Today Pearce told us that, while the agency was founded as a dedicated Lincoln shop and continues to operate with that client at the core of its business, the newly expanded team is “actively looking to take on a select number of luxury/premium clients.”

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