Novelist Returns To FCB Fold

[teknofriend]

Following a seven-year hiatus from advertising, Suzanne Finnamore is pleased to be back at Foote Cone & Belding here--and pleased that her title of copywriter does not include vp, svp or executive anything.

"It is a high form of compliment," said the 44-year-old San Francisco native. "That is what I do. I write copy. I don't prance around and have meetings and have teams under me. But I am a very highly paid copywriter."

Having left the Interpublic Group agency in 1998, Finnamore published two novels: Otherwise Engaged, about a 36-year-old professional woman who goes through a transformation upon engagement, and The Zygote Chronicles, a humorous take on pregnancy written as a mother's letter to her fetus. Finnamore began freelancing for the agency in August on its Hilton account. In late October, she and art-directing partner Ken Woodard took full-time positions at the agency, reporting to creative director Brian Bacino. FCB San Francisco president Dominic Whittles couldn't be happier to have her back.

"She is wickedly smart and imaginative. She represents a fresh point of view, not an obvious one," Whittles said.

Finnamore began her advertising career as a copywriter at Ketchum in San Francisco in 1992. She moved to then-Hal Riney & Partners in 1993, working as a senior copywriter. In 1994 she joined FCB, where she worked on Levi's "501 Reasons" campaign and advanced to creative director and vice president. Finnamore said she wanted to return to the advertising world as a way of making a good living while also being able to work as an "artist in residence."

"It's a really happy place, sort of a salon mentality," said Finnamore, who graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a degree in English literature. "You can talk about ancient Greek literature in the middle of a Doubletree meeting, and no one yells at you."

A single mom to 7-year-old son Pablo, Finnamore is working on her third novel, the third part of her live-event series (after marriage and birth). The book is titled 10 Simple Yet Elegant Keys to Divorce: A Memoir. "The first is, 'Change the locks,'" she said with a laugh.

[nuttylove]

Good to hear that she's back to writing more novels.