Creative and tech agency Barbarian has hired Peloton’s former creative director, Tim Wilson, as its new chief creative officer, solidifying the transformed leadership team. Wilson will report to CEO Steven Moy.
Wilson, an experienced designer, storyteller, brand builder and creative leader, is the final addition to the Barbarian leadership team assembled by Moy, who took the agency reins in 2019. Since then, Barbarian has recruited top talent, including new chief strategy officer Eliza Yvette Esquivel, chief technology officer Lawrence Edmondson, director of business development and marketing Alec Troxell and director of people and culture Melissa Fry, who all came on board within the last year.
Before Peloton, Wilson served as creative director at Sapient and R/GA. He was the svp and senior digital creative director at BBDO ATL, where was responsible for building a digital team from the ground up and played a role in winning new accounts for the business, like Norwegian and Novant. He also served as creative director at AKQA London on the Mini global account.
“At Barbarian, we help our clients create their future faster,” said Moy in a statement. “Tim’s extensive digital agency background from the agency world, coupled with his Peloton in-house client-side experience, will provide innovative ideas and a pragmatic approach to commercialize ideas to market within weeks, not months.”
The agency has added 21 new hires since January, with overall headcount increasing 75% in 2021 and Barbarian continuing 3% Certification, which recognizes agencies in the retention and promotion of women in leadership.
The new hires address a time of growth for the agency. In 2021, most Barbarian clients achieved organic growth—and the agency won eight new clients, including AOR client American Express. In addition, two new accounts have been won in 2022. Reflexion, a biotargeting oncology company, and HubSpot, the software products developer for inbound marketing, sales and customer service, were both added to the Barbarian roster. Barbarian has also grown its Samsung global business from a project-to-project engagement to an always-on and sustained service model.
“I’m excited to be joining the rockstar executive team Steven put together—and looking forward to partnering with Lawrence Edmondson to collaborate on inventive and industry-leading creative tech solutions for our clients,” said Wilson in a statement. “We will push Barbarian’s design thinking ahead— and create new experiences using emerging connected technologies consumers are increasingly engaging with, including VR/AR, the metaverse and NFTs.