Droga5 Announces New Talent in the New Year

NEW YORK, March 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Droga5 is proud to announce the arrival of multiple new award-winning creative hires from the likes of Y&R, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, BBH, and R/GA, among others. Leading the way is Kevin Brady, who returns to Droga5 as Group Creative Director. "With these wildly talented new hires our creative bench has never been higher," said Droga5 CEO Andrew Essex. The agency, which formed with five people in 2006, continues its historic rapid growth, and now features four offices and a global staff of more than two hundred.

Among the new hires are:

KEVIN BRADY, Group Creative Director: Kevin returns to Droga5, after one year at Y&R, where he worked as Global Creative Director on Dell, Bacardi and Virgin Atlantic. Previously he worked at Publicis NY and Bozell Worldwide. Kevin has been known for his work on NET10, Rhapsody, Puma, and Milk, and has won multiple awards, including Cannes Lions and Titanium, Effies, One Show Pencils, ANDY's, and more.

MAJA FERNQVIST, Creative Director: Maja joins Droga5 from BBH NY, where she partnered with Joakim Saul on successful campaigns for Audi, Google, Vaseline and Axe. Her previous agency experience includes Mother NY and Powell Design. Maja has been in New York City for more than six years, but is originally from Stockholm, Sweden.

JOAKIM SAUL, Creative Director: Joakim also joins Droga5 from BBH NY, where he partnered with Maja Fernqvist on successful campaigns for Audi, Google, Vaseline and Axe. He previously worked at agencies Mother NY, Powell Design and Paradiset DDB. Joakim began his advertising career in a very small village on a very small island placed somewhere in between Sweden and Finland.

RYAN HOETLING, Designer: Ryan comes to Droga5 from R/GA, where he worked as a Designer on both Nike and Barnes & Noble. His previous experience includes agencies GMMB, 22 Squared and Iconologic, and work on brands such as UN Foundation, Clean Energy Works, Toyota, Volkswagen and Coca-Cola.

DAN TREICHEL, Senior Art Director: Prior to Droga5, Dan worked at Y&R NY, where his clients included Land Rover and Virgin Atlantic, the latter of which went on to win four Cannes Lions in 2010. Previously, he was at agencies CP&B, where he helped work on Burger King's Whopper Freakout, VW, and Nike, as well as JWT NY, where he worked on JetBlue, Domino's Pizza and Smirnoff Vodka. He is Canadian.

MICHELLE HIRSCHBERG, Copywriter: Michelle joins us from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners where she spent three years creating work for Doritos, Sierra Mist, HP, Sprint and Comcast. In addition to garnering industry awards, her work on The Doritos Hotel 626 site scared millions of people. Prior to GSP, she worked at AKQA SF on Nike and Palm. She launched her career at CP&B Miami on brands MINI, IKEA and Truth.

BEN WOLAN, Art Director: Ben joins Droga5 from Agency 215/T.A.G., where he spent five years creating award-winning work for the Xbox 360 brand and titles including Gears of War, Viva Pinata and the Halo franchise, including the 2008 "Believe" campaign for Halo 3. His other projects include work for Microsoft Zune, Mercedes Benz, Ad Council and BMW Motorcycles.

ALEXANDER NOWAK, Art Director: Alexander joins Droga5 from Y&R NY, where he worked on a number of brands from MTV, VH1 and Airwalk to Land Rover and LG. While there, he picked up awards at D&AD, Cannes, Clios, One Show and Young Guns in his first year.

FELIX RICHTER: Felix also joins Droga5 from Y&R NY, where he worked on LG, Land Rover and VH1. In the first year of his career, he contributed to the agency's creative turnaround, picking up awards at D&AD, Cannes, Clios, One Show and Young Guns.

About Droga5

2011 Ad Age magazine Agency A-List winner, Droga5 is the independent New York-based firm headed by former Publicis Worldwide Chief Creative Officer David Droga. The award-winning agency, which was founded in 2006, has offices in New York, Miami, Sydney and Auckland, New Zealand. Droga5 is devoted to brands that will shape the 21st century. Clients include Microsoft, Unilever, PUMA, Prudential, Kraft, Method Home, and UNICEF. For more information, please visit the company's web site at www.Droga5.com.

SOURCE Droga5