Supernatural AI, formed earlier this year after the award-winning agency Supernatural dissolved following a disagreement among its three founding partners, has hired Bob Winter as chief creative officer.

The new agency was founded by Supernatural founding partners John Elder and Mike Barrett following what Elder called an “amicable” split over the future of the original shop, which was also focused on AI. The third Supernatural founding partner, Paul Caiozzo, is not part of the new agency and declined to comment for this story. Caiozzo was the chief creative officer of the original agency, while Elder served as CEO and Barrett as chief strategy officer (which are also their current titles). 

Winning U.S. Bank

As Barrett and Elder were looking for a creative lead, they invited Winter to join them in a creative pitch for U.S. Bank, which is now Supernatural AI’s largest client. McCann previously handled the account. 

Winter helped conceptualize and launch the creative, which led to him being brought on as chief creative officer.

Winter co-founded and was formerly chief creative officer of Majestic Beast, an agency that partners with production company Whitehouse Post to offer creative and production capabilities. Supernatural AI has also established a partnership with Whitehouse Post, which will allow the two agencies to work closely together on future projects. Whitehouse Post collaborated on Supernatural AI’s first campaign with U.S. Bank called “The Power of Us.”

Winter and Elder worked together at Omnicom’s Goodby Silverstein & Partners in the early 2000s. Elder said Winter made sense for the role because he was a respected and seasoned creative who is curious about AI.

“I hadn’t really thought of using AI in this way back when I was at other more traditional agencies, and I think now those agencies are trying to catch up and incorporate AI, but they don’t have the power of the AI system that Supernatural has built,” Winter said.

Winter said he was attracted to the role because it allowed him to work at an agency that had a “startup” feel but could still handle big clients. 

Winter will be based in Chicago. While Supernatural AI’s office is in New York, Elder didn’t rule out opening a Chicago office in the future.

Winter is “not just open to working differently. He wants to work differently. He sees the industry the same way we do ... as not being as efficient as it could be in terms of its embrace of technology, and not being willing to do the common sense things you need to do in order to operate in a modern marketing environment,” Barrett said.

More than an agency

Supernatural AI has 40 employees (its predecessor—whose website is still active but points users to the Supernatural AI website—had fewer than 20 as of July 2023). In addition to U.S. Bank, it has won the business of Cinemark, Premier Health and MSQ. The agency has also carried over several clients from Supernatural, including Zipcar, Edmunds and The Christ Hospital Health Network. Kayak, however, did not move from Supernatural to Supernatural AI; the brand did not return a request for comment on its new agency by deadline. 

Supernatural AI operates two lines of business: an AI-focused creative agency and a licensing arm for its AI platform, Superconductor, which serves other agencies and companies. In October, Supernatural AI took a significant stake in London-based marketing agency Core London, which licensed its Superconductor tool as part of the deal. 

Supernatural AI has hired six creatives in the last two months and will be looking to hire more staff for its creative department.

“[New hires] don’t have to be technologists at all,” Elder said. “But you see a lot of people sort of complaining about AI and technology and being very resistant. We need people who are at least willing to try to roll up their sleeves and use it.”