Fitzgerald & Co (Fitzco) has added creative director/copywriter Dave Gordon and associate creative director James Beikmohamadi.
Gordon has a strong experiential and digital background and honed his creative skills at several shops over the past decade, including Razorfish in San Francisco and HUGE in Brooklyn, where he served as copywriter. Most recently, Gordon was creative director at Pereira & O’Dell in New York. Throughout his career, he’s worked on brands such as Best Buy, Intel, Microsoft, EA Games, General Mills, Procter & Gamble, Fox Sports 1, and Charter Communications.
At Fitzco, Gordon creates consumer campaigns and touchpoints for Checkers & Rally’s and several Coca-Cola brands as part of Fitzco//McCann, its dedicated unit for Coca-Cola.
“Dave is a great crossover creative who is equally at home on the digital side of our business as he is on the traditional side—and he’s already proved a hit with clients and our agency,” said Noel Cottrell, Fitzgerald’s chief creative officer.
Beikmohamadi partners with ACD Sherman Winfield. He worked at CP+B from 2010 to 2016 and split his term equally as copywriter and senior copywriter. He contributed to many of CP+B’s key accounts, including Microsoft, Best Buy, Kraft Mac & Cheese, Domino’s, Applebee’s, Velveeta Shells & Cheese, Fruit of the Loom, Infiniti and Old Navy. Prior to that, he was a copywriter at EVB in San Francisco.
“James’ book has a lot of my favorite Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CP+B) work in it from the six years he worked there,” added Cottrell. “It took some convincing to get him to leave the lucrative and flexible world of freelance, but I think he saw the opportunity in what we’re creating here in Atlanta.”
Fitzco increased its headcount almost 25% in 2016 and recruited several senior-level executives from outside the Atlanta area. The agency’s growth is the result of new business from brands such as Checkers & Rally’s, Coca-Cola’s Odwalla, and national energy company Southern Company. Creative directors Bowen Mendelson (Ogilvy & Mather, mcgarrybowen, Energy BBDO, Deutsch) and Mike Groenewald, who hails from Johannesburg, South Africa (TBWA and Ogilvy), were recently hired to work exclusively on Fitzco//McCann’s growing Coca-Cola business.
DGA Feature Nominees: Audiard, Baker, Berger, Corbet and Mangold
The field of feature nominees for the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards spanning two categories is set. Nominated for the DGA honor for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film for 2024 are: Jacques Audiard for Emilia Pérez, Sean Baker for Anora, Edward Berger for Conclave, Brady Corbet for The Brutalist, and James Mangold for A Complete Unknown.
The DGA also revealed the nominees for the Michael Apted Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Theatrical Feature Film. The first-time narrative feature directors are: Payal Kapadia for All We Imagine as Light, Megan Park for My Old Ass, RaMell Ross for Nickel Boys, Halfdan Ullman Tondel for Armand, and Sean Wang for Diddy.
“2024 has been a truly extraordinary year for storytelling--and today’s nominees have created audacious and unique films that expand the possibilities of cinematic excellence,” said DGA president Lesli Linka Glatter. “I am thrilled to congratulate all our nominated directors for their brilliant work, which is visionary, inspirational and speaks to the depth of the human experience. To be chosen by one’s peers is the true marker of outstanding directorial achievement and what makes these nominations so very special.”
The winners will be announced at the 77th Annual DGA Awards on Saturday, February 8.
Here’s a fuller rundown of the nominees in both DGA Award categories:
THEATRICAL FEATURE FILM
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film for 2024 (in alphabetical order):
JACQUES AUDIARD
Emilia Pérez
(Netflix)
SEAN... Read More