MY CAREER in advertising in a nutshell

Where i started

IN 2002, I came out of BYU’s advertising program dying to make award winning advertising. This desire pushed me to move to New York and try to get hired by a hot creative shop. But, I ended up writing direct mail for Bank of America. Not what I wanted. So I quit, and moved to Virginia to attend the VCU Brandcenter. When I graduated I had an offer from my dream shop that just opened an office in Boulder Colorado: Crispin, Porter & Bogusky.

Where i went

I worked for 4 years at CPB, growing from writer to being the CD on the Coke Zero account, all while taking on projects for brands like Buell, Brammo, Jello and Nike. And yes, we won a ton of awards. But as my family grew to 4 kids, I had to move on. Next was AKQA, 72andsunny, EVB and eventually McCann. During this time, I won more awards and made bigger ads, but I also saw a growing lack of creative mentorship in our industry. I left the full time agency world in 2018 to freelance for agencies and work directly with brands. Over this time, I saw the lack of creative mentorship grow exponentially, so I started a free mentorship program called: Ad•Vice. And as I worked directly with small and midsized brands, I saw an alarming disconnect between what clients are looking for from their agency partners and what agencies have to offer.

WHERE I AM

Today, I freelance with agencies occasionally, but most of my time is spent helping brands find new ways to make effective and award-winning advertising that leverages top of funnel awareness and earned media, while driving mid and lower funnel conversion to reach the desired business objectives. If I was to ever take another full time gig, I’d look for an agency or brand that wants to invest in a team that can deliver award-winning ideas that actually work. In other words, creative that can be held accountable. Not non-profit work that nobody sees and is created just for award shows. What I’m looking for would require a leadership team that would let me build a team of young creatives I could mentor and train into a creative powerhouse that wins pitches or produces great work. If this is what you’re looking for, we should at least meet, no?

 

OTHER TIDBITS ABOUT ME

  • I grew up in Alaska and have a lot of funny and/or terrifying stories that involve salmon and/or grizzly bears.

  • I have four children and one wife.

  • I have taught and performed improv comedy for over 15 years.

    I was voted most likely to appear on SNL in high school. #lifefail

  • I sold my first screenplay in 2013. I'm still doing rewrites.

  • I am constantly preparing for the zombie apocalypse that will bring an end to the world as we know it.

  • I can grow a beard that makes LeBron James' best friend jealous.

  • I'm pretty good with a BBQ grill. #humblebrag

  • I've got my butt kicked two times in my life. (Once by a girl named Gabriela. She was a beast.)

  • I defended myself against a mugging in Mexico City by throwing a drunk dude into what the locals called, "poop river."

  • Speaking of LeBron, once I recorded VO with King James while he was in his underwear.

  • Oh, and I recorded VO with MMA champion Junior Dos Santos while he wasn't wearing a shirt.

  • Once I bought David Hasselhoff breakfast.

  • And once I bought Tom Morello a drink then told him that I destroyed him on Guitar Hero. He didn't think that was funny.

  • When I die, I want my body to be found in the mountains slumped over on a rock next to a river with a fishing pole in my hands.

  • If you're still reading, you deserve the Cannes Lion for reading boring bios that ramble...which I hear is a new category next year.