Business

PR-design firm names creative director

Derek Cote

By Bill Moss, Published: November 28, 2024

Hendersonville-based strategic communications firm Formation PR + Brand announced this week it has named Derek Coté as its new creative director.

With a career spanning two decades in design, branding and marketing, Coté will help drive the agency’s next phase of growth, enabling the firm to grow its creative team and capacity to serve new clients, the firm said in a news release.

In this role, Coté will lead the agency’s creative direction and be involved in all aspects of the creative and design process, from initial discovery and strategy to design execution. He will also ensure creative concepts are on-brand, on-message and aligned with clients’ overall brand and communications strategies. Additionally, Coté will develop and articulate the creative vision for projects and campaigns and collaborate with senior leadership to drive business development.

“Formation PR + Brand is approaching 18 years in business next year, ” said Erica Allison, CEO and founder of the agency. “I’ve spent the better part of the last two years working to map out what our next phase of growth will look like. In addition to a relentless focus on process improvement and client outcomes, bringing on top-tier talent more closely aligned with that focus has been a priority.” Allison adds that having Coté on board will also be “instrumental in leading the agency’s next phase of growth.”

Open to unconventional and innovative methods, Coté approaches design from an artistic perspective and is adept at creating compelling concepts that give form to abstract ideas.

“The opportunity to join a team of genuine professionals is rare,” he said. “I’m hoping that my diverse history and broad experience will strengthen and support the team and elevate the agency.”

Before his role as creative director, Coté spent a decade as an art and design professor, three years as the art director for an art magazine and two years as the marketing manager and art director for a global architecture firm in addition to freelancing for numerous marketing and advertising agencies.

Founded in 2007, Formation PR + Brand is guided by a simple mission: Listen. Create. Empower. Impact. The agency is committed to investing locally while also working with clients across the country who are dedicated to creating social and economic impact throughout the communities and regions in which they work. To date, the agency has served nearly 300 clients across 10 states and the District of Columbia.