Minneapolis agency Periscope welcomed Heath Pochucha (pictured, left) and Jason Bottenus (pictured, right) as executive creative directors.
“Bringing in two people of this caliber who will add to Periscope’s long-standing, fully integrated expertise to create even stronger, more provocative work, continues to prove that a fully integrated indie agency is a great way to provide the strongest brand ideas for clients,” Periscope CCO Peter Nicholson said in a statement. “Our ability to challenge agency status quo and bring an elevated level of thinking is something that creative talent is seeing and wanting to be a part of, and with that, we will continue to grow and compete with highly creative agencies.”
Pochucha arrives at Periscope from the Los Angeles office of Deutsch, where he spent the past four and a half years as a group creative director and worked on the Volkswagen account. Prior to joining Deutsch, he served in creative director and copywriting roles for Carmichael Lynch, Fallon and Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners (BSSP), working with clients including Harley-Davidson, MINI and Jack Link’s.
“Periscope is an agency on the rise, with well-rounded clients, work across multiple platforms, tons of tools in the toolbox and a desire to add new ones each day,” Pochucha said in a statement. “I’m excited by agency leadership’s commitment to take this place and make it not only the best in Minneapolis, but the best in the Midwest and the best in the country.”
Bottenus joins the agency following five years as a creative director with Fallon. Prior to Fallon, Bottenus served as a creative director for Mother London and art director for BBH New York. He has worked with clients including Axe Body Spray, Beck’s Beer, Cheerios, Woodford Reserve, Cheerios, Larabar, and Loctite, including on the brand’s Super Bowl campaign.
“I came to Periscope because of their shared desire to create culture-defining work,” Bottenus said in a statement. “I’m looking forward to refining, growing and adding to the culturally relevant work that Periscope is able to produce.”
“The talent we’ve been able to recruit from across the country is an incredible demonstration of the continued progress of our agency’s strategy and mission to create things that people love,” Periscope CEO Liz Ross added. “As we have done this successfully and expanded into more businesses, with the fullest new business pipeline in Periscope history, we’ve been evolving our creative team and agency to drive more innovation, with our ultimate goal to revolutionize how agencies can best serve clients.”
The new hires follow a year in which Periscope has new business including Intuit QuickBooks and Pemco, but also comes on the heels of client Great Clips launching a review in which the agency declined to participate.