Arts & Letters Creative Co. Officially Launches

Truly modern brands need creative partners who can build marketing ideas very much the same way tech companies build software: quickly, iteratively and hyper-focused on audiences. Today’s clients want to embed themselves as true partners in the creative process, crave solutions more than they do a big reveal, and most importantly, need to think and move as fast as the world does.  

With those values in mind, creative veteran Charles Hodges, known for his leadership on campaigns for Apple’s iPhone, and a career portfolio of award-winning brand work, announces the launch of Arts & Letters Creative Co., an independent creative partner built for the rapidly evolving infrastructure of modern clients.

 

Based in Richmond, VA, Arts & Letters comes out of stealth mode with nearly 20 employees and a seasoned senior management team hailing from top creative agencies across the industry. At the heart of Arts & Letters, a name that for centuries has signified the natural marriage of visual arts and literature, is a determination shared by its leadership to keep things open, simple and effective.

 

Arts & Letters’ vision has already led to a creative partnership with its first flagship client: Mountain View, Calif.-based tech giant, Google. The agency has been working in partnership with Google Creative Lab on a range of projects across the company.

 

“We wanted to name it ‘Arts & Letters & Tech & Music’, but that didn’t have quite the same ring to it,” joked Hodges. He added, “Building something from scratch has been exciting because it has forced us to completely reevaluate what you really need to create great ideas - and what modern clients really need in a creative partner. Stripping the process down and working in this iterative, collaborative style has proven to be a very natural and effective way of solving problems.” 

 

Hodges started his career as a writer at Wieden+Kennedy NY working on Nike, Heineken and ESPN’s famed “This is Sportscenter.” campaign. After that, he worked at the Google Creative Lab, working across its ecosystem on product innovation and campaign platforms, before heading to TBWA’s Media Arts Lab, where he led Apple’s iPhone account and launched some of its most memorable work including, “Shot on iPhone”.

 

Joining Hodges in senior management to lead Arts & Letters are Managing Director, Rich Weinstein, Director of Strategy, Andy Grayson, and Head of Production, Letitia Jacobs. 

 

Weinstein was most recently SVP/Group Account Director at The Martin Agency on Oreo, Walmart, and Comcast and brings with him over 20 years of client management experience to Arts & Letters. Before Martin, he spent 6 years running ESPN and the Account Management Department for Wieden+Kennedy NY and also worked at top shops Berlin Cameron and Goodby Silverstein & Partners, where he helped launch Netflix.

 

Grayson brings over 15 years of strategic leadership to Arts & Letters, most recently working in San Francisco with various startups after serving as the Director of Brand Strategy at Goodby Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco, a post he landed after 3 years running strategy on the Nike business for Wieden+Kennedy Portland. 

 

Jacobs most recently sat on the leadership team at The Martin Agency as an Executive Producer and Director of Project Management. Prior, she spent 3 years at Young and Rubicam as Executive Director of Content Production, a position she took after a successful 10-year freelance creative career spanning the likes of BBH, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Droga5 and Wieden+Kennedy, during which she lead work for Volkswagen, Nike, Land Rover, Verizon, Chevy, Hanes, Heineken, Burger King, and Mini Cooper.