Observatory Hires Renowned Creative Linda Knight as Chief Creative Officer
By Egotist / /
Agency also makes eight key hires
Full-service creative agency Observatory announced that it is hiring former Phenomenon CCO Linda Knight as Chief Creative Officer, effective February 10. The agency has also made eight new hires, six of which are newly created positions.
Recognized as one of Business Insiders “30 Most Creative Women in Advertising,” Linda will replace Co-CCO team Todd Hunter and Tony Fur, the team who spent their entire decade-plus careers at Observatory, previously known as CAA Marketing, and who departed at the end of last year. Linda will be responsible for leading creative efforts for the agency.
Linda was hired for her ability to make the most of global cultural moments for brands, and her capability to deliver no matter how high the stakes. “I’ve admired Linda’s work since we were colleagues at W+K — more years ago than either of us is willing to admit,” Observatory CEO Jae Goodman says. “In the (ahem) couple of decades since, she’s led global campaigns and agencies that took me beyond admiration to envy! We’re supremely lucky to call Linda an Observatory colleague.”
Linda grew up in a blue-collar steel town before studying Fine Art at the Australian National University. She moved to the United States after Dan Wieden and Susan Hoffman headhunted her for Wieden+Kennedy. She spent her formative years at W+K Portland and Amsterdam, concepting global campaigns for Nike, where she worked with Jae. She created inspirational sports work for brands including adidas, Gatorade and Beats. Among her many creative accomplishments, she completed the “sports trifecta” with Super Bowl, Olympics, and the FIFA World Cup campaigns. Prior to her role at Phenomenon, Linda was ECD at TBWAChiatDay Los Angeles, where she created iconic campaigns for brands such as The GRAMMY’s, Uniqlo and Intel.
Linda was drawn to Observatory because of its place at the forefront of content for brands, developed over years with Creative Artists Agency and strengthened when Observatory became an independent agency in 2017. Observatory has created work as varied as the global launch of Marriott Bonvoy; VCA’s “Pet Friendly,” a scripted episodic comedic series by Whitney Cummings; the creation of Bonobos’ #EvolveTheDefinition ad campaign, which won YouTube’s Ad Of The Year That Rewrites The Rules, and delivered Bonobos’ best-ever return on advertising spend (ROAS); and a content-centric campaign for Ab/InBev which is Corona Mexico’s best-performing campaign in Corona’s 100-year history.
The addition of Linda at CCO caps off a string of new hires at the agency, driven heavily by growth since Observatory first launched as an independent agency with joint backing from the Stagwell Group and CAA. “In the last two years since becoming Observatory, we’ve seen significant growth in terms of the number of clients, volume of content and campaigns we’re producing with both established and new clients, and strong growth in top-line revenue,” says managing director, Brendan Shields-Shimizu. “As a result, new employee hires were up more than 28 percent in the last year and continue to climb. We are excited to continue growing our already impressive client list, which Linda and the team will be integral in championing.”
Travis McMichael, the former VP of Brand Marketing at Pollen and previous Head of Brand Marketing at Bang & Olufsen, has been named Senior Director of Creative Strategy; Caroline Doyle, former Head of Marketing for DTC fashion e-commerce brand Inez, and Lucas Potter, former Account Director of Live Nation, will be Brand Directors; Rod Kashani, former Senior Strategist at TBWAMedia Arts Lab, and Erin Schlissel, former Senior Strategist from Saatchi & Saatchi will be Senior Strategists; Sarah Karabibergian, former Senior Art Director from Barton F. Graf, will be Senior Art Director; and Benjamin Hinamanu, a former copywriter at TBWAMedia Arts Lab, will be a Writer.
Group Photo from left to right: Lucas Potter, Travis McMichael, Erin Schlissel, Sarah Karabibergian, Jae Goodman, Linda Knight, Benjamin Hinamanu, Caroline Doyle, Rod Kashani
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