Hello, 2017.
When I joined GodfreyQ three years ago as Executive Creative Director, the challenges that faced us were enormous and obvious. How do you replace a founding creative partner who decides he’s more interested in living as a Buddhist monk? How do you transform a successful decade-old advertising agency into a strategic content-driven marketing organization? How do you deliver results for clients that far outstrip conventional advertising? You get to work.
We immediately refocused our resources and talent on areas we can make the most impact — brand strategy, web experiences, video content, and solid creative work that would break through in any medium. We re-launched Veritas Technologies, creating an entire brand ecosystem from scratch in a matter of months. We pioneered native advertising with the Wall Street Journal for Brocade, and dominated the conversation about IT in DC. We won new business, resigned some, and redefined and re-invigorated existing relationships.
We structured our agency to augment internal creative services for brands like Xero and Splunk to ensure brand continuity and avoid redundancies globally. We moved beyond internal client silos and separate budgets to develop Brand-Generation campaigns that were designed to work across the entire customer journey and scale from generating awareness to delivering leads. We brought brands to life physically, digitally, and most importantly, emotionally. And we had a lot of fun doing it.
But there’s one thing we all learned in 2016 — in a world of constant transformation, change is not constant. GodfreyQ is, again, in a position to redefine itself. But instead of incremental changes, what would be needed was a fundamental reinvention of the agency overall. Enter Godfrey Dadich Partners.
While I would love to continue to be a part of such an exciting group of people, given the new trajectory and structure of the agency, it’s best that I make room for new creative leadership. This also gives me the opportunity to refocus on passion projects, both personal and political.
I have nothing but optimism in my heart for 2017, and I look forward to working, sometimes again, sometimes for the first time, with people and brands that can make a positive impact on our world and the lives of those around us.
-Peace
