Arts & Letters Promotes 5 Creative Directors

L to R: Cody Pate, Geoff Castillo, Lillian O’Connor, Zac Milner, Brett Simone

Arts & Letters has promoted five creatives to the creative director level including Lillian O'Connor, Brett Simone, Cody Pate, Zac Milner, and Geoff Castillo. Effective immediately, the five CDs are responsible for creative leadership across a number of key accounts, such as Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Hubspot, Google and more. Each CD reports directly to Charles Hodges, executive creative director and founder, and Molly Jamison, executive creative director.

Charles said, “At Arts & Letters, bringing in and keeping the best in the business is hugely important to us, and promoting from within is something we pay special attention to. A&L is a place where you can cement your role and grow. As we continue to refine our ‘Work Together, Anywhere,’ operating model we’re so excited to see each of these new CDs blossom in their new roles.”

In January, Lillian and Brett co-led creative on the launch of Tito’s Handmade Vodka’s new 'With Tito’s' platform. During their time with the agency, they’ve launched NBA on ESPN's 'It's a Beautiful Time for Basketball' campaign, the 'ESPN Fifty/50' launch for the 50th anniversary of Title IX, and additional work with Tito’s, including last January’s breakout hit with Martha Stewart. In addition to leading creative on the agency’s Tito’s account, they are responsible for creative across the HubSpot account. The team has partnered together over the last 10 years at agencies including Grey and Publicis, working across P&G brands such as Downy and earning top awards at the industry’s leading shows like the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. 

Zac and Cody continue to lead the work across A&L’s Google account, and have guided new business wins for Extended Stay America, Google Cloud, and Bed Bath & Beyond. Before Arts & Letters, Zac spent time at McKinney, Anomaly and Arnold, where he helped create the iconic Dr. Rick character for Progressive. Cody worked at McKinney and Venables Bell, where he crafted breakthrough work for Audi. They both interned at BBDO and graduated from VCU Brandcenter. 

Geoff is one of the longest tenured Letterheads, having joined the agency in 2017. Over his six years, he has been responsible for work including Google Photos’ 'Look at Your Photographs' with Nickelback, HubSpot’s 'Winning Q4' and Google Chromebook’s 'White Walkers Make a Slides Presentation'.  He has also worked as an in-house agency Director across films for clients like Google, ESPN and Tito’s. Prior to Arts & Letters, Geoff worked with agencies such as Droga5 and Deutsch LA.

These five promotions come on the heels of Arts & Letters best year of new business yet, winning accounts including DICK’S Sporting Goods, HubSpot, ESPN BET, Bed Bath & Beyond and others.