Andy Nathan

FOUNDER & CEO
FORTNIGHT COLLECTIVE, BOULDER CO / LONDON UK

Andy Nathan heads Fortnight Collective. During his 20+ years of experience, Andy has served as CMO of Victors & Spoils, Managing Director of TBWA\Chiat\Day NY, and VP/Account Director at CP+B. Plus, leadership roles at BBH New York and Ogilvy New York & London. Andy has worked on brands like IBM, Miller Lite, Microsoft Windows, McDonald’s, Patagonia, Harley-Davidson and Smirnoff, among others. After working in leadership roles in many big shops in NY, London and Boulder CO, Andy felt there had to be a better way of working. One that democratizes the creative process and engenders more collaboration across client and agency. Andy created a new model for the industry: a ‘brand marketing accelerator’ that is focused on helping brands be better, faster. A sentiment that’s best articulated via Fortnight’s rallying cry: BetterHustle. With its unique AdHack process, Fortnight liberates the strategic and creative development process. From 3-day sprints to 2-week hacks to AOR relationships, Fortnight puts the right talent around the table at the right time to accelerate brand momentum for marketers. Awarded one of AdAge’s Small Agency’s of the Year in 2018 and was recently named on the Adweek 100: Fastest Growing Agencies list.

Has the pandemic changed your workplace and your workflow? Do you expect to return to pre-pandemic ways of working or will any changes become the ‘new normal’?

The pandemic hasn’t changed our workplace or workflow because we designed Fortnight to be flexible and speedy from the beginning. If anything, the design world is now heading to where we’ve been due to an increased demand for speed, flexibility and agility. Our rallying cry, BetterHustle, exemplifies these principles and has allowed us to pivot as culture inevitably shifts around us. We’ve always worked via three-day Design Sprints and one-to-two-week Design Hacks. As we look to find new ways to support brand needs, we’ve also developed The Pinch, a quick and creative answer to brand problems, allowing us to create a logo or package design in just a matter of a day or two.

What do you expect 2021 to hold for graphic designers and the design business? Have the challenges of 2020 changed the way you think about your job and career or the role of design?

The turmoil of the last year has changed how I think about many issues — both within design and outside of it. My hope is that the design industry will use its superpowers for a greater good and give a louder voice to those who don’t have a platform. To quote legendary Spanish artist Joan Miro, we need to: ‘Look for the noise hidden in silence, the movement in immobility, life in inanimate things, the infinite in the finite, forms in a void.’