Venables Bell & Partners Expands Creative Team with Five New Hires

Independent advertising agency Venables Bell & Partners announced today the hiring of associate creative directors Grant Piper and Matthew Bottkol, senior art director Sally Hastings, senior copywriter Scot van den Driesen, and copywriter Collin Smith. These five creative leaders will focus on work for long standing clients, including Audi and Chipotle, as well as new initiatives recently won by the agency for clients Frito Lays and Marriott Hotels & Resorts.

“We’ve had a great start to the year, tackling both interesting, creative challenges for existing clients as well as opening new doors with new brand partners,” said VB&P partner, executive creative director Will McGinness. “We’re always on the lookout for outstanding new talent that’s pushing storytelling and innovation boundaries, and the right cultural fit for our team, too. Grant, Sally, Matthew, Scot, and Collin are all of those things, and we couldn’t be more excited to welcome them to VB&P.”  

Associate creative directors Grant Piper and Matthew Bottkol join VB&P full-time after recently freelancing with the agency, and they’ll be primarily focused on Audi work ahead. The two have been freelancing together as a team since January 2018. Grant has spent the last few years freelancing, most recently working on Google Cloud’s 2019 March Madness campaign with Eleven, Inc. Before that, he created Volkswagens’ 2014 Super Bowl spot, 'Wings,' while freelancing at Argonaut after a three-year stretch with Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, where he created work for Corona Light, Modelo Especial, Cheetos, and Doritos. Earlier in his career, Grant spent several years in New York City, where he freelanced for Radical Media, JWT, and SS+K.  He began his career at Deutsch NY working on IKEA, DIRECTV, Kodak, and Anheuser-Busch. During his career, Grant’s work has been honored by Cannes Lions, Clios, Effies, and the Webbys.

Matthew has experience building a wide range of brands, including Oreo, Planters, Chase Bank, Toyota, and the Minnesota Twins at agencies including FCB New York and Hunt Adkins, Minneapolis. After several years in New York City, Matthew moved to San Francisco, where he ran the Sonic Drive-In account at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners and created work for Chevy Trucks, Cheetos, and Xfinity. Matthew’s work has been recognized at top award shows, including Cannes Lions, the Clios, The One Show, and D&AD.

Creative team Sally Hastings and Scot van den Driesen are currently handling creative efforts across VB&P’s client roster. The duo joins the agency from Heat, where they helped manage Instagram’s first-ever global growth campaign while also working with notable brands like Facebook, Levi’s, Electronic Arts, Deloitte, and THX. Prior to Heat, Sally and Scot spent time at Ogilvy & Mather in Australia on clients AAMI, Goodyear, MINI, BMW, and Puma. In 2015, Sally was one of 12 women worldwide selected for the Cannes Lions’ See It Be It program, which helped propel her career and inspired the move to the United States. Throughout their careers, both Scot and Sally have earned multiple accolades at prestigious industry award shows, including Cannes Lions, The One Show, Clios, and Effies.

Copywriter Collin Smith will be working primarily with clients Marriott, Renaissance Hotels, and Chipotle. A recent San Francisco transplant, Collin spent the last three years working at Arnold Boston, where he developed a range of integrated work for clients, including Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey, Tribe Hummus, Carnival Cruise Lines, Huntington Bank, and National Association of Realtors. He also played a key role in the agency winning the Hardee’s business in 2018.