“Brand builder, leader and consummate strategic thinker” Kofi Amoo-Gottfried joins FCB Garfinkel today as chief strategic officer, replacing Sara Bamber. He will work in tandem with chief executive officer Lee Garfinkel.
Amoo-Gottfried joins FCB Garfinkel from Bacardi Rums, where he worked as a global communications director out of London. The Ghana native “created and launched the first majority-owned network agency on the African continent” while working as a managing director at Publicis West Africa. He began his career at Leo Burnett Chicago as an account supervisor and communications manager, where he worked alongside current FCB Worldwide CEO Carter Murray. The team later reunited while at Publicis. Amoo-Gottfried cited Murray as a key motivator for joining the agency. “I have a lot of faith in his ability to turn places around, to inspire and motivate,” Amoo-Gottfried said. “We are very similar. I, too, am all about creating a culture that brings people together to focus on creating incredible work, and having fun doing it.”
Amoo-Gottfried also worked as a senior strategic planner at Wieden+Kennedy, where he crafted the strategy for Nike’s global Beijing Olympics campaign. In January, he was named to Ad Age‘s “40 Under 40” list of young marketing stars. Lee Garfinkel says Amoo-Gottfried “doesn’t know where planning ends and creative begins, and that’s a formula for success.”