The Work That Made Me: Evan Levy
Evan Levy discovered advertising at age six, when he first realised the Incredible Hulk TV show would always cut to commercial when Bruce Banner’s eyes turned green, but before he completely freaked out. He’s watched the commercials ever since.
Evan started at Fitzco in 1996 as an assistant account executive. He’s since served as account manager, account director, new business coordinator, copywriter, creative director, chief digital officer, managing director and now, CEO.
Evan proudly serves on the boards of 4As Atlanta Council, UGA's AdPR Executive Leadership Council, Camp Sunshine, and Advertising for Change, a coalition of agencies committed to cementing Atlanta as the leading city for diverse advertising and marketing professionals.
The only two titles that matter are husband and dad-of-four (two human, two canine). He is determined to someday open a Katz’s-style deli which is, in his estimation, the only substantive thing his native Atlanta is lacking.
LBB> The ad/music video from my childhood that stays with me…
Evan> Schoolhouse Rock. Try in 2024 to pitch kitschy animated music videos advertising grammar and civics to kids in their pyjamas on Saturday mornings. They’d laugh you out of the room. They’d be wrong.
LBB> The ad/music video/game/web platform that made me want to get into the industry…
Evan> A Nike print campaign when I was in college that I liked so much, I ripped them out of SI and put them on my apartment wall. Dark, moody, monochromatic headshots of pro athletes with a column of long-form copy that read like pure poetry. I’d seen a billion ads, but these stuck a chord I didn’t know was there.
LBB> The creative work that I keep revisiting…
Evan> This is going to sound way more intellectual than I actually am. But however you define the purpose of art, to me Saturday Night Live is in a category of one. It’s humanity’s most consistent and creative endeavour meant to capture and reflect its times. Politically, musically, historically, aesthetically, technologically – it’s a 50-year comedic anthology that tracks America’s good, bad and ugly in a way that nothing else ever has or will.
LBB> My first professional project…
Evan> My first week as an assistant AE, Callaway Resort & Gardens was shooting a spot for its annual Holiday in Lights event. I was on a real set, there were real production people running all over the place, and not-real snow was everywhere. I didn’t have a clue how to contribute, but it was heaven.
LBB> The piece of work that made me so angry that I vowed to never make anything like *that*…
Evan> Anything that’s made me angry, it’s only been because it was a smart af idea I wish I’d thought of first.
LBB> The piece of work that still makes me jealous…
Evan> I will forever be jealous of Wieden+Kennedy’s Isaiah Mustafa work that relaunched Old Spice.
LBB> The creative project that changed my career…
Evan> I made an unusual midcareer switch from account management to copywriting. The first big project I worked on was for Durex. My art director partner and I came up with magazine cut-outs called Dickorations. Outfits for your junk. A cape. A tuxedo. A cowboy outfit. A boxing championship belt. It was so stupid. It sold condoms. It won awards. It confirmed I could survive on the creative side of the house.
LBB> The work that I’m proudest of…
Evan> I have one daughter in Boston University’s premier dance company and another daughter majoring in fine art at George Washington University. So to answer the question: theirs.
LBB> I was involved in this and it makes me cringe…
Evan> They say every defendant deserves proper counsel no matter how guilty they may be. That’s how I rationalise my time as creative director on Hooters.
LBB> The recent project I was involved in that excited me the most…
Evan> We recently won a pitch for Think! bars, managed by R3. It was a one-week pitch – briefed on a Monday, present ideas on a Friday. Pros and cons, of course. But condensing what’s often a performative and prolonged process into a few days was energising and (gasp!) fun.
