San Francisco indie Duncan Channon has hired John Kovacevich as executive creative director.
Kovacevich has spent nearly four years as a freelance creative director, working directly with Facebook, Airbnb and Google, as well as 215 McCann and Mekanism.
He also moonlighted as the voice behind the 97% Conference Twitter account, a parody account made to counter Kat Gordon’s 3% Movement.
Pay no attention to the women behind the curtain!! #MaintainTheRatio#Please? https://t.co/2JTjtVx2kj
— The 97% Conference (@97PercentConf) August 6, 2018
Kovacevich will report to Michael Lemme, DC’s chief creative, and has been assigned to direct the creative approach for the agency’s recent wins: the Golden State Warriors, Kat Von D Beauty, InnovAsian Cuisine, and cloud-based HR provider Trinet.
Lemme said in a statement: "John’s creative talent impressed immediately, and is rooted in a deeper understanding of our clients’ business challenges. He freelanced with us this summer and we just decided we didn’t want him to leave. He was a fit from day one.”
Andy Berkenfield, Duncan Channon’s chief executive, added: “At a time when our agency is growing, he’s the type of creative leader you want – smart, funny and people just love working with him. We’re lucky to have someone like John who enjoys helping younger creatives find their voice as much as he does creating big ideas for clients.”
Kovacevich said: "This is the corniest-new-hire-press-release-cliché of all time, but DC just felt different. They do good work and they’re not dicks. Can you say ‘dicks’ in a press release?"
On his personal blog he listed an additional five reasons why he quit freelancing to go back to full-time agency life.
“The work respects the audience and cares about craft.” he said. “It’s a crew that I wanted to be in business with.”