Barton F. Graf 9000 has added the creative team of art director Michael Hagos and copywriter Sam Dolphin. Hagos and Dolphin will report directly to executive creative directors Scott Vitrone and Ian Reichenthal.
Hagos and Dolphin have unofficially been working together since they were in graduate school at Virginia Commonwealth University and later formally became a team while helping to launch the New York office of Goodby, Silverstein, and Partners. Together, they have produced award-winning work for Comcast, New York Post, Street Easy, and Rock the Vote.
“I love the different ways they find creative solutions,” said Gerry Graf, Barton F. Graf founder and chief creative officer. “When I look at work, and I can’t figure out how the team came up with the idea, those are the people I really like. Michael and Sam are campaign thinkers who fundamentally understand that breakthrough ideas also need to sell stuff.”
Before his time at Goodby, Hagos was working as a freelancer for a variety of agencies including Red Antler and Venables Bell and Partners. Prior to that, he spent time some time at Mother NY and Sid Lee, producing creative work for companies such as Target, Virgin Mobile, Stella Artois, Proust eMusic, and JCPenney. Before becoming Hagos partner, Dolphin worked as a copywriter at Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore., where he created work for Dodge, P&G, Coca-Cola, Facebook, Nike, American Express, Sony, Special Olympics, and Herbal Essences, among others.
