D&G Redesigns Creative Department Into Purpose-Driven Hub

David&Goliath is doubling down on its long-stated mission to help clients marry philanthropy with advertising by overhauling its creative department to focus on social responsibility.

“Our goal is to build on our existing purpose-driven agency model, by reimagining or creating a new standard for our industry,” states CEO David Angelo. “This is a watershed moment for our industry. And as responsible creative problem solvers, we have an even greater responsibility to inspire even more sustainable change in the world.”

The rejiggered creative unit will be led by D&G veteran Ben Purcell and Blake Winfree who joins from Havas Chicago. As Chief of Social Impact, Winfree’s specific responsibilities include leveraging the agency’s cultural insights to identify social deficits and the audiences negatively impacted by those deficits. The resulting creative output will serve as a bridge between the two.

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In addition to working on D&G clients, Winfree will also provide social impact insight for nonprofit clients including the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA) as well as Angelo’s global nonprofit Today, I’m Brave.

Winfree’s tenure at Havas Chicago included working with clients such as Mikes Hard Lemonade and Autozone, as well as new business accounts. Prior to Havas, Winfree was vice president/creative director at MullenLowe, leading creative for American Greetings, Hyatt, and Facebook.

He is active in helping the industry become more inclusive as well. He founded the 25Forty Project at MullenLowe, an initiative to increase diversity in the ad industry and was a part of Havas North America’s DE&I committee.

Purcell, in addition to managing and developing creative directors alongside Winfree, will serve as Chief Creative Officer to steer the work to a higher creative standard that goes beyond solely creating ads, fostering relationships with senior clients, and working closely with D&G department heads to ensure the overall narrative of the agency adheres to the creative impact goals set in place.

Percell joined D&G as a senior writer when the agency opened its doors in November 1999 and was quickly promoted to ACD. Most recently he worked as executive creative director, managing and creating work for accounts including Universal Studios, Vizio, HBO, Jack in the Box and others.

Both Percell and Winfree report to Angelo and will co-manage the agency’s creative department.

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