Arts & Letters Hires Scott Woodhouse as Strategist

Arts & Letters announces the hiring of Scott Woodhouse as its newest strategist, joining a team of world class strategy minds and further cementing A&L’s unique approach to talent as they expand their 'Work Together Anywhere' model to create distinct pathways for growth. 

Scott joins A&L after nearly nine years at Wieden+Kennedy Portland, working across some of its biggest brands, including KFC, Verizon, Coca Cola, Converse, Powerade, Corona, Budweiser, Visa, MLB and Old Spice. Prior to W+K, Scott launched iPhones at TBWA\MAL, Nissan cars at TBWA Melbourne and a successful travel start up based out of his homeland, Tasmania, Australia.

Scott was drawn to Arts & Letters after reading an article about why talent matters more than geography at the agency.

Said Scott, “I stumbled on an interview with Charles Hodges (A&L founder/ECD) about why talent matters more than geography.

It really grabbed a hold of me, because it felt like a sensible take on how to get to good ideas: enable the best people to work together, while living the life that inspires them the most. For me, that life is in White Salmon, WA. It’s about as far off the adland grid as you can get, but as a white water kayaker, it’s the centre of the universe. And as a strategist, it’s where I’m most tapped in. My brain just works better when I’m near the river. 

When you talk to Charles and Andy (Grayson, A&L head of strategy) it’s clear that there’s no A&L dogma. And that means it’s possible to rethink anything that gets in the way of ideas. In my experience, the more letters I added to my title, the further I got from doing the job I love. A&L offered me an invitation to get back to the purest version of it.” 

Scott’s arrival signals A&L’s latest disruption of the traditional agency model. The company has launched a pilot program to create dual pathways for growth: one for managers of people and one for individual contributors. The model includes separate pathing for creative, strategy, and production talent who want to continue to focus on Craft rather than only growing by managing. Scott is one of a handful of 'Letterheads' who have come to A&L after holding senior management roles elsewhere in the industry, fulfilling a desire to allocate all of their time to their craft. 

Said founder/ECD Charles Hodges, “I love how our model has continued to allow people to find new chapters in their career that they may never have thought were possible. One of those is that of the experienced manager that wants to continue to grow and lead by example as an individual contributor. Relentlessly evolving one’s craft – and having the time to focus on that – is something that a lot of managers miss once they take on the role of stewarding teams at a more cross-functional level. 

Similarly, the skill set needed for managing people is quite different than that for the continued focus of craft. We’re continuing to build out that training and not just assume that new managers have everything they need based on craft experience that got them there.

The best analogy is the sports team. And we’re continuing to try and find the best players that want to be players, the best coaches that want to be coaches and then get out of the way and let them play the game.

We’ve always thought it sort of insane that advertising has been so slow to build multiple pathways for creators. This is a business of ideas and it should make space for the experts skilled in generating those ideas. If you work in Medicine or Academia or Law there are plenty of ingrained ways to grow without managing. If you’re a screenwriter or an author or a painter, this is also true. In our industry the answer has sort of been freelance or don’t. We hope our approach encourages other agencies to think similarly.”

Scott will be based in White Salmon, Washington where he will continue to enjoy the outdoors, most especially his deep passion for kayaking. Scott joins a connected network of A&L talent which now spans 20 states as A&L continues to double down on its “Work Together, Anywhere” operating model. Said A&L head of strategy, Andy Grayson, “Scott is one of the best in the business and we’re so happy our model enables him to continue to live his dream life as an elite kayaker in the Pacific Northwest while offering A&L and our partners his elite level of strategic craft. We continue to believe the place should work for the people and not the other way around and we can’t wait to see what Scott will help us unlock next.”

Arts & Letters partner roster includes DICK’S Sporting Goods, ESPN, Google, HubSpot, Tito’s Handmade Vodka and Zola. Now seven years old and 150 people strong, the independent agency has been named an Outside Magazine Best Places to Work for four years in a row, a 2023 AdAge A-List Standout, and has received numerous other industry awards.