Hasta La Creative!

DDB California has named Todd Grantham as the agency’s new president and CEO, based out of the agency’s San Francisco office, Adweek reports. Grantham fills the role vacated by Mike Harris in June.

Grantham arrives at DDB California from Goodby Silverstein & Partners, where he served as director of new business and associate partner. He originally arrived at Goodby back in 1996 and has held roles at the agency including  associate director of account management and managing director. He’s worked with clients such as Chevrolet, Saturn Adobe, Hewlett-Packard, Yahoo and Quaker Oats.

DDB North America President Mark O’Brien “cited Grantham’s brand experience, people skills and ‘respect for creativity’” in making the hire, according to Adweek. Grantham’s experience in developing new business was undoubtedly another factor, as the agency looks to rebound from losing Well Fargo to BBDO in March. Top accounts at the agency currently include ConAgra Foods and Clorox.

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DDB California has announced the addition of Jonathan Byrne as creative director. In his new role, Byrne will “oversee the ongoing diversification and integration of new skill sets into the creative department.”

“I’m excited to join DDB California and build something really unique there,” said Byrne. “Clients and agencies alike are searching for the ‘new way’ of doing things, but we all know the ‘new way’ will be outdated the moment the meeting ends where it’s introduced. The answer is as timeless as our business and it starts with smart, nimble minds. I’m fortunate to have found a trove of them ready to be ignited.” continued…

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In case you haven’t heard the news today, 15-year Deutsch LA vet Jason Elm, who last served as EVP/group creative director on Diamond Foods and Playstation (he was joined by 180LA alum Gavin Lester on the latter account late last year) has assumed the chief creative officer post at DDB California. Elm assumes a position that’s been left vacant at the Omnicom-owned agency’s Cali operations (L.A., San Francisco) since January when Lisa Bennett stepped down from her CCO role. Bennett has since been appointed as EVP/creative for DDB North America.

As for Elm, during his lengthy stay at Deutsch LA, where he started as a copywriter, the senior creative subsequently played a major role in PlayStation efforts, creating the Twitter feed for @TheKevinButler and leading creative on the award-winning “Michael” work for the console. His new boss, DDB California (formerly DDB West) CEO Mike Harris, speaks his name and sings his praises in a statement, saying, “Jason was recently, and rightly so, named to Business Insider’s ‘people most-sought after by rival agencies’ list. He is a creative genius and a superstar in the industry and I have no doubt that his creative vision will elevate the level of our work, across departments.”

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