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Atlanta keeps maturing in the creative agency world and Brandon Rochon is one of the city’s new transplants helping it grow.
Rochon has joined independent agency Hothouse as its evp, head of creative, moving across the country from Los Angeles, where he was CEO and chief creative officer at Kastner & Partners, heading up creative for the shop’s longtime partner Red Bull.
In his career, Rochon has worked with some of the biggest brands, including leading the Samsung account for Leo Burnett, Coca-Cola for Ogilvy Paris and working with Absolut Vodka, McDonalds, PlayStation, Heineken and Nissan at TBWA\Paris.
In Atlanta, Rochon sees a city on the rise, and in Hothouse, he saw an agency he could help to improve.
“After moving to Atlanta, I thought, where could be a place where I could add value, and Hothouse was the one,” Rochon told Adweek, adding that he was impressed by Hothouse’s clients, which include Mercedes, InterContinental Hotels Group, Interface, Deloitte, Cox Automotive and Cort Furniture.
Hothouse, said Rochon, is a sleeping giant. It has developed a quiet reputation for more than 25 years for solid business without an ego, and he sees an opportunity to build on that success while making a bigger name for itself in Atlanta and the greater industry.
“As soon as we have an opinion and a philosophy, and a system of how we see how culture moves and why culture moves that way in Atlanta, it’s poised to be the next great shop to talk about,” added Rochon.
Jon Katinsky, founder and president of Hothouse, said that the agency helps build brands and brings big ideas to connect its clients to culture in authentic ways.
“Our ethos is Brandon Rochon’s foundation,” said Katinsky in a statement. “We exist to help our clients mind the gaps between their vision and their current reality, leading to engagement and loyalty that lives beyond the campaign.”
Promoting creators and the creator economy
Rochon chose Atlanta due to its burgeoning creator culture, and he hopes to promote those creators through Hothouse.
Atlanta already has some top ad agencies, including Majority, Dagger, Six Degrees, 22squared and offices of major shops like BBDO, Digitas, Publicis, Wunderman Thompson and VMLY&R, but Rochon thinks it’s still bubbling under as a top agency city.