San Francisco agency Duncan Channon welcomed John Kovacevich as executive creative director, joining a creative leadership team that also includes executive creative director Anne Elisco-Lemme.
“John’s creative talent impressed immediately, and is rooted in a deeper understanding of our clients’ business challenges,” Duncan Channon chief creative officer Michael Lemme said in a statement. “He freelanced with us this summer and we just decided we didn’t want him to leave. He was a fit from day one.”
“New business wins have allowed us to add a talent of John’s caliber to our senior leadership team, so it’s an exciting chapter for us,” Duncan Channon CEO Andy Berkenfield explained. “At a time when our agency is growing, he’s the type of creative leader you want — smart, funny and people just love working with him. We’re lucky to have someone like John who enjoys helping younger creatives find their voice as much as he does creating big ideas for clients.”
Kovacevich joins Duncan Channon after around three and a half years as a freelance creative director and copywriter, working with agencies including Mekanism, 215McCann, FCB West, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Argonaut, DDB San Francisco and Havas New York, as well as Duncan Channon. As a freelancer he worked with clients such asFacebook, Airbnb, Google, Clorox, Levi’s, Charles Schwab, LinkedIn, Xfinity and Frito Lay. Kovacevich recently wrote about his decision to go full-time in Medium. Prior to going freelance he spent over two years as director of communications at GS&P. That followed a year and a half as senior vice president, group creative director for FCB West, working on brands including Dockers, Air New Zealand, Meow Mix, Milk Bone, Kibbles ’nBits, Nature’s Recipe, and Pup-Peroni. Before joining FCB he served an earlier stint at GS&P as an associate creative director and copywriter, working with clients such as Chevrolet, Frito-Lay, Hewlett-Packard,Foster Farms, Sonic Drive-In and Emerald Nuts.
“This is the corniest-new-hire-press-release-cliché of all time, but Duncan Channon just felt different,” Kovacevich said in a statement. “They do good work and they’re not dicks. Can you say ‘dicks’ in a press release?'”
“I was impressed with the way the whole team approaches creative,” he added. “The work respects the audience and cares about craft. It’s a crew that I wanted to be in business with.”