Guy Bails On Goodby, Freelancing And Is Now At Grey SF
April 2, 2008
Guy Seese is joining Grey San Francisco as Executive Creative Director. Seese abdicated his title of Creative Director and Associate Partner at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco earlier this year. He told Creativity that:
“I’ve been freelancing for a while, in New York, some work with the Barbarian Group out here in San Francisco, and I kind of liked the idea of being the Lone Ranger. But what I missed was the opportunity to build a team, and the camaraderie that went with it. Jeff Goodby is a good friend, and he told me that I needed to start my own agency, and I got started on that through these side projects, but ultimately it’s a really difficult thing to do. It’s very difficult to find the right people you can trust with the right business acumen for the job.”
Everyone bailing on Goodby. Feh Tarty and Pat McKay departed for W+K London recently. Mark Wenneker bailed for Mullen in March. Guy Seese said,
“I was really impressed with the people here at Grey SF. All the integrated pieces are already in place, we just need to throw some fuel on it and fire it up. Our goal here is to be nothing less than a creative powerhouse in the new media space.”
Right. Um, was it the money, Guy? You’ve still got to partner with Betsy Sperry to lead the agency, so it had to be the cash. Sure, I get that. Cash talks. Possibly, Seese realized he was never going to shine beneath top dawgs, Goodby and Silverstein and left. Failed to get his own shop of the ground and then went straight for the cash.
Bravo to Grey for trying to revamp the deathstar. First, with Tor Myhren in New York and now this move. In his new role, Seese will lead Grey San Francisco’s integrated creative department and oversee all the work — from traditional advertising, to interactive, to web development. Prior to GSP, Seese spent five years as Executive Creative Director, Partner at Cole & Weber/United in Seattle working on Nike and Dell among others. Guy Seese is a Cannes, Clios, Kelly and One Show winner, too.
If you want to check out Seese’s work, Grey has set up a website to cure your curiosity. Check it out here.
April 2, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Don’t forget John Nussbaum who went to Fallon, Minneapolis.
April 2, 2008 at 5:11 pm
goodby works that way. everyone goes there, does two years and leaves. rich fires people in hallways if he doesn’t remember what they’ve done recently.
grey seems to be doing a lot right now. a bunch of senior- to mid-level hires are happening in nyc and they seem to be building a rather decent creative team there.
but sf? I don’t know.
April 2, 2008 at 5:19 pm
I am betting Guy is going to do good stuff even at Grey. He refuses to produce bad work.
I love the shirtless head shot for the press release.
April 2, 2008 at 5:28 pm
I’ve noticed Agency Spy has a tendency to imply that the reason why people take new jobs is because they were somehow getting screwed over at the place they were at.
Whatever happened to loving where you’re at, but leaving for new opportunities/challenges? I’ve done that, and i’m sure i’m not the only one.
April 2, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Who the hell is john nusselbaum?
April 2, 2008 at 5:36 pm
I thought abdicated meant to voluntarily give up.
April 2, 2008 at 5:38 pm
one thing to think is,… ever wonder if the agency is bailing on some of these people, and not vice versa?
April 2, 2008 at 6:28 pm
“He refuses to produce bad work.”
Really? Did you see the Ditty-Os work?
April 3, 2008 at 2:22 am
Your grip on facts is tenuous at best.
April 3, 2008 at 7:30 pm
You guys have no idea how deep Goodby’s bench is, nor how strong the creative culture is. Good as those people are/were, there are tons of staffers waiting to step in and fill their shoes.
April 4, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Honestly, the Goodby bench IS way better than most of those people. People bailing on agency… or agency bailing on people?
April 8, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Grey SF just lost a key account and laid off 25 people. They’ve hired Guy and a few other top account people to help save the agency, but at this point they will only be delaying the agency’s inevitable demise.
And who really cares. Grey SF’s work has always been shitty and most of their clients are tech oriented…not exactly prime prospects for amazing creative work…even if you’re a recently divorced, now openly gay (finally) and re-energized Guy Seese.
April 20, 2008 at 4:53 am
Soooo, we actually buy into the bull shit now. That, if you work at a “great agency” you are actually talented. So, none of us actually know the bozo’s that suck that got promoted (mmm, pete n, andy b, )
yeah, i’m sure that everyone at all but 3 co’s in america suck. for sure. yeah. you should all die, Y&R, JWT, Bates, Grey.
June 12, 2008 at 12:15 am
This is a great article. I like the tone. Why would some guy say, “Lone Ranger” and then go to Grey SF? What a load of, ah, money. He’s an OK guy and a pretty good creative, but Goodby is just not that great anymore. I also have to laugh out loud to the who is John Nusselbaum! Never heard of him. He can’t be all that if he went to work for Al Kelly again. That Guy is a total twat.