Droga5 New York expands creative team with new hires
Droga5 New York is growing its creative team, adding several new creative directors and associate creative directors in response to new account wins.
Droga5 new hires bolster creative team
Donnell Johnson, Matty Smith and Shannon Washington have recently joined the agency as creative directors. The agency has also hired six new associate creative directors. The hires follow steady agency growth and several new business wins, including ESPN, Tencent and Dos Equis, among others.
After freelancing at a number of agencies throughout the last seven years, Johnson has joined Droga5 with nearly 20 years of advertising experience under his belt. Prior to freelancing he worked at CP+B (Miami/Boulder),180LA, Saatchi&Saatchi LA, SpikeDDB and KBS+. Some of his notable campaigns have included The New York Times’ ‘The Truth Is Hard to Find,’ Cigna’s ‘TV Doctors of America’ and Toyota’s ‘Swagger Wagon.’
“The agencies I’ve loved being a part of all have the same ‘we're all in this together’ spirit. It's about the work first—not personal agendas or egos. Knowing that soul lives within the culture, I look forward to working and collaborating on any challenges Droga5 throws my way,” said Johnson.
Smith comes to Droga5 after six years at Barton F. Graf 9000 where he was one half of the first creative team hired in the agency’s history. He quickly rose through the ranks there, and worked with several brands including Kayak, Dish Network, Little Caesars, GrubHub and Supercell. An alumnus of VCU Brandcenter, Matty has also had stints at Wieden+Kennedy New York and TBWA\Chiat\Day New York.
"I've been very lucky in my career to work for some great mentors, and I'm really looking forward to learning and growing more at Droga5,” said Smith.
Labeled as a ‘Next Gen CEO’ by Refinery29 Washington has joined Droga5 as creative director, currently on CoverGirl. Prior to Droga5, she spent two years at Invnt/Time Inc, where she focused on strategizing live, integrated and digital lifestyle and beauty experiences for brands such as Intel, SC Johnson, Popsugar and InStyle, People, and Essence magazines and their respective brand partners. Shannon has worked at a number of agencies including Grey, beauty@Gotham, MKTG and Mirrorball.
“The one thing that you pick up when you talk to everyone here, from account to creative to strategy, even operations, people genuinely care about the work. I'm looking forward to starting a new, fresh, thought-provoking cultural conversation through beauty – it's time, and this is the place,” said Washington.
In addition to the new creative directors, Droga5 has hired Rich Singer, Zack Menna, Alyssa Georg, Elena Knox, Ariella Gogol and Marie Delpy as associate creative directors.