Marc d’Avignon and Jay Berry have joined US creative agency Translation as ECDs, re-uniting with old Wieden+Kennedy comrade CCO John Norman. The three worked together at W+K Portland from 2005 to 2008.
Translation, founded ten years ago by music exec CEO Steve Stoute, works for a number of big US clients including StateFarm, McDonald’s, Anheuser-Busch, Kaiser Permanente, Champs Sports, Coca-Cola, and Target.
“Clients come to Translation because we are the indie alternative to the big box agencies,” says Norman. “We are building an environment that crafts culturally relevant individual ideas as opposed to broad stroke advertising that sells anything to anyone. Marc and Jay are idea men, with the souls of true craftsmen. They not only have the ability to produce Emmy award-winning work, they can spot and nurture talent and get the best from people in every discipline at the agency.”
Stoute says: “Something I learned from my years in the music industry is that when you have great creative minds, your job is to get the talent together, and then get out of the way. Even before bringing John onboard, we knew how important it would be to give our new CCO the tools to succeed. Our goal is to build the best creative department, period. With the addition of Marc and Jay, we’re well on our way.”
Translation is an interesting agency – rapper Jay-Z was one of the early investors with music man Stoute. Translation made it on to the Chevrolet roster earlier in its career although that business moved into bespoke agency Commonwealth, now part of IPG’s McCann. But the agency seems to have survived that – and the recession – in pretty good shape.
