David&Goliath expands creative department with four new senior hires
Full-service independent creative agency David&Goliath (D&G) has announced the appointment of four new creative department senior hires. Fernando Reis, Marcelo Padoca, Raul Garcia, and Wilson Mateos join the agency as creative directors, based in Los Angeles. In each of their respective roles, they will be responsible for raising the level and quality of creative work across D&G’s client roster. All four will report to founder and chairman David Angelo and chief creative officer Bobby Pearce.
l to r: Wilson Mateos, Marcelo Padoca, Fernando Reis, Raul Garcia
“In addition to bringing a long history of creating work that has garnered the industry’s most coveted awards over the years, they also embrace the brave qualities and challenger spirit we look for in talent,” said Pearce. “We are absolutely thrilled they’ve joined our agency. Plus, aside from being amazing creatives, they are also fantastic human beings.”
Creative team Reis and Padoca join D&G as creative directors to work on the Kia account. Prior to joining D&G, Reis and Padoca – who have been working together as creative partners for more than 10 years – served as associate creative directors (art director and copywriter, respectively) at cross-cultural agency The Community, working with clients such as Converse, Modelo, Corona, City of Buenos Aires and more.
Before that, the two spent time at Lew’Lara/TBWA in São Paulo, Brazil, creating work for clients including Adidas and Nissan. They also held senior art director and copywriter roles at Ogilvy Brazil, working on brands such as Coca-Cola, Unilever and Burger King. Their collective work has been awarded by the One Show, Clio Awards, D&AD, London International, Festival Iberoamericano de la Publicidad (FIAP) and Cannes, including a Grand Prix and four Gold Lions.
“We’re thrilled to be joining David&Goliath,” said Padoca. It’s an agency with a lot of ambition, great clients and a ‘no assholes’ policy. What else could you ask for?”
Garcia joins D&G as creative director/art director to work on multiple accounts such as California Lottery as well as D&G’s own nonprofit Today, I’m Brave, and pro bono account Shine On Sierra Leone, among others. With over 17 years of experience, most recently as a freelancer, Garcia has worked at top Canadian agencies with Canada’s most celebrated creative directors and has been regularly featured in Strategy Magazine’s Top Canadian Creative Rankings. His work has made the front page of the Toronto Star, been featured on local TV news across North America, and has even been blogged about by 50 Cent and Pharrell Williams (for his BMW campaign).
Garcia has earned international recognition at Cannes, One Show, D&AD, Clio Awards, Effies, Webby’s, Young Guns, and every Canadian national advertising award show. He won a D&AD Black Pencil, a Grand Effie and multiple Lions for his involvement in the #GroceriesNotGuns campaign for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.
“My entire career I’ve been trying to help clients and agencies understand the importance of being brave and how it has a positive effect on the work produced and the results that follow,” said Garcia. “When D&G explained that they were an agency built on this ideology, I was like, ‘where do I sign?’”
Mateos also joins D&G as creative director on the Kia account. Prior to joining D&G, Mateos was a creative director at 180LA where he worked on the University of Phoenix account.
Before that, Mateos spent more than 25 years working for the largest and most creative agencies in Brazil creating campaigns for top brands such as VW, Audi, Renault, Toyota, Unilever, Pepsi and Visa, among others. He served as copywriter at FCB, Lew’Lara TBWA, F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi and AlmapBBDO. He also held creative director roles at NeogamaBBH, Y&R, DM9DDB and CuboCC. His work has been recognized by Cannes, Clio Awards, One Show, ADC and London International.
“David Angelo is a man with strong beliefs, a vision and many dreams,” said Mateos. “I admire that and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.”