Patrick Godfrey

Brainstormer, Business leader, Connector, Entrepreneur, Foodie, Idea generator, Marketer, Parent

Patrick Godfrey is a brand planner, strategist, and writer. Patrick has spent his career in the trenches and boardrooms of some of the biggest and most successful companies in the world, including years spent working with Microsoft, IBM, Dolby, AT&T, and Sun Microsystems. With agency experience at Ogilvy & Mather, Anderson & Lembke, and Goldberg Moser O’Neill, Patrick has the passport stamps and the industry recognition that come from driving success for marketers the world over. Before launching Godfrey Dadich Partners, Patrick served as CEO of Godfrey Q, an industry-leading B2B agency he founded in 2003. His clients have included Dolby, Intel, Splunk, NetApp, WIRED, Symantec, and Veritas. The agency, which he grew to 70 full-time staff with billings of more than $100 million, has won numerous awards, including recognition from AdAge Small Agency Awards, IAB MIXX, Addys, and Effies. In addition to his responsibilities as co-chief executive and founder, Patrick oversees GDP’s strategy practice, ensuring that clients’ needs are being addressed with strategies that are compelling and relevant. He also ensures that wines are served at the proper temperature. Patrick graduated from San Diego State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He and his wife Lauren have called San Francisco home for more than 20 years and continue to share their love for The Bay with their son, Miles.

We share an acutely felt need for leadership in this moment of accelerating social, economic, and political transformation. But who can you trust? Indeed, what can you believe? Platforms that manipulate attention for short-term gain undermine the vital work of long-term thinking and deep problem-solving. This is where institutions of knowledge and influence need to step up and contribute to the urgent conversations of our time. Today, brands can, should, and do tell their stories directly and participate meaningfully in the global exchange of ideas. And they are doing far more than promoting themselves. Increasingly, brands are taking stands on societal issues and connecting their purpose to the world’s most pressing problems. This is not altruism. This is because their customers, employees, investors, and neighbors expect it. What’s more, brands no longer can—or need to—rely on others to tell their stories. They have the power to rise above the current media morass to own and share their stories themselves. All of this requires courage and new ways of thinking. The good news is, more and more brands are demonstrating both. They are shaping, for the better, both private dialogue and public discourse. They are speaking—publishing, broadcasting, engaging—with the quality, creativity, and intellectual vibrancy that were once the exclusive domain of the Fourth Estate. This is The New Editorial. And our movement is growing. We’re thrilled to announce that Godfrey Dadich Partners is joining forces with Ghost Note—the firm behind projects like Nike’s Puerto Rican Day Parade and The Center for Healing and Justice’s brand identity—to expand the New Editorial’s vision and impact. Through this strategic partnership, we believe our firms can help organizations reach new audiences, tell more compelling stories, and take part more effectively in the critical dialogues shaping the future.

Advertising, Brand Management, Corporate Branding, Digital Marketing, Digital Strategy, Integrated Marketing, Interactive Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Online Advertising, Writing