Nick Paul - AgencySpy

Yes, O’Keefe and Paul’s Agency is Now Open for Business

Kiran Aditham — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 10:34:13 +0000

Last week, a bevy of banana-filled images had us wondering whether this was an odd preview of the new agency formed by Tom O’Keefe and Nick Paul, who previously served as North American CD and chief global growth officer, respectively, at Draftfcb.

Well, thankfully their new, Chicago-based shop is not called “Whiskey Bananas,” but in fact the more pro-sounding O’Keefe Reinhard & Paul (though the imagery of both spirit and fruit adorns the walls as you can see here). The Reinhard in the mix is Amazon alum Matt Reinhard, who takes on the role of founder/CCO at the new shop while O’Keefe serves as founder/CEO and Paul, founder/president. Today marks day one at OKRP, which you can find out more about here.

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So, Is This O’Keefe and Paul’s New Shop?

Kiran Aditham — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 11:40:39 +0000

Well, this is news to us. It looks like these photos have been making the rounds on Instagram and Twitter the past few weeks, but tipsters say these images signify that Tom O’Keefe and Nick Paul have “open[ed] doors to WHISKEY BANANAS their new ad agency” based in Chicago. If you recall, O’Keefe, a 20-plus-year ad vet, left Draftfcb two months ago and it was rumored at the time that he was lured by fellow former DFCB exec Nick Paul to help start up and lead a new shop. O’Keefe had been with Draftfcb since 1990 during the FCB era and last served as executive creative director, North America. Paul, meanwhile, spent five years at said agency and last worked as EVP/global chief growth officer before leaving last spring.

O’Keefe has actually been tweeting out somewhat silly pics such as the ones below with #whiskeybananas for some time now, but we’ll see what’s up and fill in the blanks when we can.

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O’Keefe Leaving Draftfcb

Kiran Aditham — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 09:49:07 +0000

Sources familiar with the matter have confirmed to us that Tom O’Keefe, a DraftFCB vet who’s spent nearly 20-plus years in the ad biz, is leaving the agency. From what we’re hearing, O’Keefe, who most recently served as executive creative director, North America at the agency, is moving on from DFCB to head up his own shop. Word on the Spy line is that O’Keefe has been lured away from Draft Chicago by Nick Paul, formerly EVP/global chief growth officer at the agency, though we’ve yet to receive official confirmation on this. We’ve also been told by sources that he has been exploring the possibility of opening his own shop, though he has not finalized any plans.

As for O’Keefe, the outgoing exec (no timetable yet on his official departure date) initially joined Draftfcb in 1990 and eventually served as executive creative director in the agency’s San Francisco office before moving a decade ago to take on the same role at the agency’s Chicago hub. We’ll keep you posted when we learn more.

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Drakoulias Assumes More Responsibility at Draftfcb

Kiran Aditham — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:10:19 +0000

Beginning today, Draftfcb global chief of staff Peter Drakoulias (right), who took on that peculiar title two months ago, will now also handle business development efforts for the global network. As a result, Drakoulias will take over for now-former chief growth officer Nick Paul, who you may remember took over the responsibilities of Adam Levine a year ago when the latter “parted ways” with the agency. As for Paul, Draftfcb tells us that his exit was voluntary and he left to “focus on another opportunity.”

While Drakoulias adds oversight of M&A activity, biz dev, etc., within the Draft global network to his job list, the agency’s global CEO/president Laurence Boschetto has taken a moment to sing Paul’s praises in a statement, saying, “Those who have worked closely with Nick know that he has been passionately committed to the ongoing success of our organization, most recently working hard to establish an aggressive new business function first in Chicago, then in North America and later around the network. He also played a major role in uniting and leading our 361 experiential marketing offering across the USA before taking on his business development job.”

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Adam Levine Out at Draftfcb NY

Kiran Aditham — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 11:07:59 +0000

It looks like Draftfcb New York is kicking off 2011 by shifting its new business leadership as sources familiar with the matter confirm that Adam Levine (left) is no longer with the agency. Reasons weren’t given for Levine’s departure, but tipsters more or less allege that he was “fired.”

Levine joined Draft NY in May 2009, officially taking on the post of chief growth officer. At the time, then-president of the office, Peter DeNunzio, said the hiring “signals our commitment to growth and taking our model to the next level.” Guess it didn’t quite work out as planned. Before joining Draft, Levine spent nine years working on new business at Deutsch and spent six in account management at DDB Needham.

As for his replacement, we’ve been told that North American new business efforts will now be led by EVP Nick Paul, who Draftfcb named North American director of business development in 2010.

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