David&Goliath founder David Angelo just announced that his agency has expanded its creative department by hiring a full dozen brand new employees to fill various positions.
Chief among this round of hires are creative directors Brandon Davis, Rick Utzinger and Nick Hine.
Davis wrote copy for some of the industry’s biggest acronyms (FCB, BBDO, TBWA, W+K) earlier in his career before running his own freelance operation for five years; during that time he worked on campaigns like former employer Wieden’s German/Japanese spot for Chrysler as well as Old Spice and Gatorade.
Hine most recently served as global/group CD at TBWA working on the Infiniti account; he left after CP+B won the business late last year. Before moving stateside in 2012, he worked as CD in the London and Paris offices of TBWA, McCann, Saatchi and Ogilvy. (As GCD at the latter’s Paris location, he worked on the Duracell and Dove Hair accounts.)
Utzinger also joins D&G from TBWA. He was creative director for two of that shop’s most recent pitch wins–Buffalo Wild Wings and Miller Lite–and his name appears on the credits for the most recent Miller ad, which came out in March. He worked on that 2014 Macklemore/Ryan Lewis Grammys spot as well.
The release tells us that Davis, Hine and Utzinger will each work across D&G’s client roster. All three new CDs (who were actually hired back in March) will also report directly to Angelo and CCO Colin Jeffery.
They’re not the only new staffers in D&G’s creative department, though. The agency also scooped up:
- ACD David Sullivan, previously with RPA
- Senior Art Director Rob Casillas, who was ACD at LatinWorks
- Senior Art Director Sheldon Melvin, previously with Zambezi and GS&P
- Art Director Brett Westnedge, who worked at CP+B and goodness Mfg.
- Junior Copywriter Dan Hass of Milwaukee’s GS Design
- Junior Copywriter Nicole Lague, who just graduated from VCU Brandcenter (whoop!)
- Junior Art Directors Henry Hsu and Austin Ho, who both got their BFAs at the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena
- Junior AD Steven Pham, who joins the agency after stints at Opening Ceremony and MoMA
Whew. This news follows the March hire of former JWT North America president/CIO Mike Geiger, who is now D&G’s managing partner/chief digital officer. No word on whether he played a role in the new hires, though of course we assume that he did.
Everyone who didn’t get hired this time will just have to wait until the next round of the California Lottery.