L.A. agency Phenomenon announced this week that it had named Jay Gelardi as its first executive creative director.
Here is his work, which recently included campaigns for letgo, Intel and Boost Mobile.
Gelardi joins the indie shop from Huge L.A., where he held the same title. (You may recall that this office recently rebranded to Elephant, the mysterious IPG network that is no longer a dedicated Apple shop.)
He was formerly digital ECD at CP+B Boulder, which hired him away from The Monkeys in his native Australia.
“Jay has a deep history at the best digital and integrated agencies in the world and shares our love of doing work that is a first in every way,” said CCO Chris Adams in explaining the hire. “His collaborative nature and dedication to craft will help us live up to our goal of creating ideas that are next level, or nothing. We hired Jay for his creative capabilities, but we love him for his optimism, positive energy and collaborative spirit.”
President Erica Hoholick, who left TBWA late last year to join the agency founded by Krishnan Menon, added, “Phenomenon is one of the fastest growing business transformation agencies, and Jay’s strong track record of brand-transforming ideas is exactly what we look for in a candidate.”
You may recall that Phenomenon claims to be different than other agencies in that it goes inside, deep inside clients’ cultures to help them transform their businesses. One such example is the work they did for Nationstar in a 2017 effort we can’t help but call Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper.
“I was drawn to Phenomenon because it partners with such a wide range of clients looking to answer a diverse set of questions,without preconceived notions of how to answer them,” said Gelardi. “I’ve always been of the mindset that the most creatively effective solutions arise when you can solve problems with total freedom to innovate.”