Executive creative director Jerry Hoak is been upped to chief creative officer at The Martin Agency. Danny Robinson will act as CEO/CCO during the transition.
Hoak joined Martin in 2016 and was quickly promoted to the role of ECD in recognition of the way he stepped in to help steer the creative department (alongside Danny Robinson and Karen Costello) during a time of agency transition. During his eight-year tenure at Martin, Hoak has been a major contributor to agency growth, winning 18 new business pitches with a nearly 90% win rate. He has led pitch teams that won signature clients, including DoorDash, ABinBev, Carmax, Google, and Papa Johns.
Hoak has also been an integral force behind Martin’s creative and cultural surge in recent years with activations like Buffalo Wild Wings Jewel Stool and campaigns like Door Dash’s #OpenForDelivery and Busch Light’s “Head for the Mountains” Super Bowl spot starting Kenny G. Hoak was an early adopter of the agency’s Cultural Impact Lab and played an active role in helping Martin become the award-winning creative force capable of shifting culture and business. Hoak has also served as a member of Martin’s Executive Committee.
“Anyone who has spent any time at Martin is keenly aware of the high creative bar Jerry sets,” said Robinson. “He has a passion for our business and it’s wonderful how infectious that passion can be. What’s really incredible is his ability to rally teams and individuals into creating career-shaping work.”
Hoak spent the formative years of his career at Droga5. His Titanium Lion-winning work for Prudential’s Challenge Lab, which helped people imagine their future so they could plan accordingly, was featured on “Freakonomics” and led him to be named “One of the 24 Most Creative People in Advertising” by Business Insider.
“It really makes me happy when the right things happen to good people,” said David Droga, CEO of Accenture Song who hired Hoak at Droga5. “Jerry is a wonderful talent and an even better human.”
His work for Android’s Be Together, Not the Same campaign, including beloved films like “Rock Paper Scissors” and “Friends Furever,” became internet sensations, ultimately ranking as one of the most shared ads of all time. Prior to Martin and Droga5, Hoak worked for Oglivy and Taxi in New York.
“As a childhood cancer survivor I’ve always been a fighter. The Martin Agency is a special place and I am so fortunate to have had the privilege of fighting for the people, the work, and our client partners for the last seven years,” said Hoak. “And now I get to be in the incredible position to also fight for our industry. I love what we do and the value we provide. Every day, we create something out of nothing. We move markets. We touch people’s lives. And I will never stop fighting for the privilege to do so.”
Hoak steps into the role of CCO, following the recent announcement of Martin naming former CCO Robinson as the agency’s next CEO, with the support of an all-star creative leadership team that includes Martin ECD’s Ashley Marshall and Jordi Martinez.
James Earl Jones, Lauded Actor and Voice of Darth Vader, Dies At 93
James Earl Jones, who overcame racial prejudice and a severe stutter to become a celebrated icon of stage and screen — eventually lending his deep, commanding voice to CNN, "The Lion King" and Darth Vader — has died. He was 93.
His agent, Barry McPherson, confirmed Jones died Monday morning at home in New York's Hudson Valley region. The cause was not immediately clear.
The pioneering Jones, who was one of the first African American actors in a continuing role on a daytime drama and worked deep into his 80s, won two Emmys, a Golden Globe, two Tony Awards, a Grammy, the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honors and was given an honorary Oscar and a special Tony for lifetime achievement. In 2022, a Broadway theater was renamed in his honor.
He cut an elegant figure late in life, with a wry sense of humor and a ferocious work habit. In 2015, he arrived at rehearsals for a Broadway run of "The Gin Game" having already memorized the play and with notebooks filled with comments from the creative team. He said he was always in service of the work.
"The need to storytell has always been with us," he told The Associated Press then. "I think it first happened around campfires when the man came home and told his family he got the bear, the bear didn't get him."
Jones created such memorable film roles as the reclusive writer coaxed back into the spotlight in "Field of Dreams," the boxer Jack Johnson in the stage and screen hit "The Great White Hope," the writer Alex Haley in "Roots: The Next Generation" and a South African minister in "Cry, the Beloved Country."
He was also a sought-after voice actor, expressing the villainy of Darth Vader ("No, I am your father," commonly misremembered as "Luke, I am your father"), as... Read More