Confessions of a Creative Director

All the way from Thailand, it's Creative Director and Creative Coach Rodd Chant!

Rodd and I are kindred spirits who share the same passion for finding the perfect black t -shirt and for helping bring up the next generation of creative directors. I've been following him on LinkedIn for some time and a recent post really caught my eye. Rodd believes that AI will kill all agencies, but it might destroy those that sacrifice senior creative talent in the name of innovation and efficiency.

Gordy Sang and Brian Siedband, Co-Chief Creative Officers and founders of Quality Meats Creative (recently named Ad Age Small Agency of the year!) share the story of their once-fledgling agency that is now exploding by forgoing conventional wisdom, trusting their instincts, maintaining a high standard of work, and fostering a collaborative environment where all disciplines are valued.

On today’s show we’re talking to the irrepressible Cameron Day, Creative Director and Copywriter extraordinaire and author of Spitting Chiclets, his second book in a trilogy about the triumphs and tragedies of the advertising business.

He’ll share his motivation for writing the books and some of the extraordinary lessons he learned from his father, legendary adman Guy Day, the Day in Chiat Day. Cameron has some great stories, including watching dailies for the most famous TV commercial of all time. Hint: it was in 1984!

We’ll also talk about lessons he had to learn on his own, the hard way through a storied career that has taking him to some of the biggest agencies and personalities in the advertising universe.

This is an amazing conversation and a history lesson featuring a who’s who of the business. You’re going to have Google at the ready to look up some of the names mentioned in the show if you don’t already know them.

It's the very first edition of Wash-A-Pig Wednesday! Wash-A-Pig is a

a unique card game that boosts your creative and advertising skills in a fun, engaging way. On this episode we play the game live with a few unsuspecting victims, er, panelists: Creative Director and creator of Stuff About Advertising Ashley Rutstein, Sell It Great's Pitch Guru Ben Levy and Wash-A-Pig inventor and Creative Director Todd Turner.

The brilliant, charming and very funny Sean McBride, Chief Creative Officer of Arnold Worldwide, is here to talk about the resurgence of comedy in advertising, which I’m sure we all witnessed during this year’s Super Bowl.

Sean is an expert in this area, overseeing creative for two of the longest running and funniest campaigns in advertising history. I’m talking about his work on Progressive’s iconic Flo and Dr. Rick campaigns, some of my all-time favorite ads!

Sean and his team are doubling down on the laughs and have developed innovative ways to find and nurture the next generation of comedic ad writers and talent.

Shlomo Genchin is a kind, generous and supremely talented creative machine! You probably know him from his super popular newsletter and website thecreativemarketer.net where he shares recipes, tools and techniques for writing creative copy, content and ads that help creatives achieve better work more consistently and efficiently.

But he also has a day job as Creative Director at Ground Up VC where he helps 45 startups with all their creative and marketing needs.

And he believes this sector is the Wild West for bold creative cowgirls and cowboys looking to disrupt and make career defining work. And he’s here to tell us all about it.

On today’s podcast, we have chief creative officer of NVE Experience Agency, the talented Shelly Elkins - Adweek Experiential Executive of the Year!

And Shelley is here with a big proclamation that brand experience, also known as experiential ,has finally earned a seat at the big kids table and that we’ve entered the era of marketing with experience at the center of mix.

As someone who has worked in this world for many years and who has had his heart broken by similar claims I was skeptical. But maybe, just maybe Shelley will change my mind.

Happy New Year everyone, and welcome to the very first episode of 2024!

I'm thrilled to have one of the hottest creative minds in the industry, someone who is breaking all the rules of marketing and advertising, and leading the brand Liquid Death to places few brands ever reach. I'm talking about the creative genius, Andy Pearson, who gives us a peek behind the curtain of how he and his team continue to defy the norms of our business and create work that is truly memorable and ultimately effective.

Visit jaimecabreracreative.com to learn more about everything I spoke about in the intro or go directly to the items:

https://patreon.com/confessionsofacreativedirector

https://amzn.to/4aMRoFG

Enjoy an in-depth with Mark DePace Chief Creative Officer and Zach Mortensen, the CEO of Ghost Robot. This innovative studio is a one-stop creative powerhouse for top tier clients like Netflix, Google, Peloton, Away, and Airbnb, just to name a few. Ghost Robot stands out as a channel agnostic creative hub, adept at solving complex marketing challenges with a diverse array of solutions from video games and apps to comic books, card games, and even podcasts.

Today, we're getting an insider's look at how Mark and Zach balance their roles, perfectly meshing the creative and business sides of their company. They're here to share their insights on building a successful collaborative environment in the fast-paced world of running a creative business.

On today’s show, we take a bit of a departure with former copywriter Ben Purkert, author of The Men Can't Be Saved, a wonderful novel set in the world of a branding agency and centered around a narcissistic young copywriter whose world comes crashing down after he gets laid off.

While the book is fiction, it’s filled with stories inspired by his time in the industry we can all relate to like ECDs walking around like Golden Gods and overzealous copywriters who live and die over commas.

The novel also touches on larger societal and agency issues like Toxic Masculinity, the search for purpose and male loneliness.

On today's show, creative director Roberto Lastra shares his inspirational origin story as a kid from Mexicali, Mexico, who immigrated to the US during his teens. Pushing through culture shock and language barriers, he went on to work for five of the most famous agencies in the world before founding his own agency, Lovers Not Haters.

Along the way, he learned that "The Less You Try To Fit In, The More You Do" and he’s passionate about the idea of bringing your whole self to work.

Highdive Advertising has become a go-to shop for top brands looking to make a splash at the Super Bowl. It might have a little to do with the fact that Chade Broude, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Highdive, sold through his first Super Bowl script one year into his career and has been creating winning spots ever since.

Today, he’s opening up his playbook to reveal 4 simple concepts to keep in mind when working on a spot for the big game, including my favorite which is the Two Beer Rule!

So if those SB briefs are starting to come in, you’re gonna wanna listen carefully to our conversation.

Learn more about Chad here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chad-broude-13b74b11/

Donny Dykowsky is an accomplished musician, composer, songwriter and founder of The Ski Team –  a premiere production, custom music and sonic branding studio out of Jersey City, New Jersey. His work has garnered Lions, Pencils, Clios, Webbys, Sundance Premiers, and is on permanent display at the MOMA. Check out our amazing conversation where he shares some hot tips that Creative Directors can use when working with a composer or custom music producer.

Kevin Lynch is an accomplished Copywriter and Creative Director , whose with an incredible career that has taken him across the globe with stops in China and Sweden where he was most recently Creative Director at Oatly. Kevin has always made career decisions by asking: What stories will I be able to tell? and he’s here to share with us his 5 Principles for Finding Success in a non-linear career.

Aaron North was recently described as a marketing genius by the master marketing genius Ryan Reynolds for his work as CMO of Mint Mobile. And after our conversation, I would have to second Ryan's assessment. Aaron is here to give us a sneak peek at the multi-agency strategy and workflow that he's perfected to create Mint Mobile's amazing work.

Learn more about Aron here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/aronnorth/

Brett Essman is a Creative Director extraordinaire Brett Essman from ad agency Preston Spire in Minneapolis Minnesota. Brett’s here to talk about being proactive as a Creative Director and looking for the opportunity to create big ideas in every brief And when you boil all that down, what he’s really describing is this idea of not becoming complacent but pushing yourself to go above and beyond. It’s about the grit and perseverance you need to get to do the work that makes you feel fulfilled. And what I love about Brett is that he’s not all talk, he’s got the case studies to back it all up.

Check out his work here https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettessman/

and here http://www.brettessman.com/

Today’s guest is Andres Fabian, a globe-trotting Dominicano creative director who has worked on three different continents for companies and agencies like Leo Burnett, Kelly Bluebook, Innocean and VMLY&R.

On this episode Andres discusses his experience as a Latino creative in the world of advertising.  It’s an important conversation we all need to hear, and we both share personal stories about the most outrageous things we’ve been told or overheard to the weird practice of code-switching to the need for real action around diversity in our industry.

This is can’t miss episode especially for people of color or under represented groups in our industry .

Fresh off her appearance at Cannes, Margaret shares her thoughts on the power of AI and how she's harnessing it to take GS&P to new heights in innovation.

On this historic 50th Episode of COACD we’re talking with the brilliant and super humble Greg Hahn Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Mischief @No Fixed Address which was recently ranked among the Top Three Best Agencies in the world by AdAge! 

He’s pulling back the curtain to share some of the guiding principles and philosophies that make Mischief such a magical, mystical and near mythical shop. Plus, we'll also get a glimpse of Greg the kid from Ohio who dreamed of becoming a guitar shredding god!

Ned Brown is CCO of Bader Rutter in Milwaukee and an accomplished pianist and songwriter. Over the years he's leaned how to apply concepts and processes usually reserved for music composition to help him generate fresh thinking for advertising campaigns.

"You won't promote yourself so how can you expect someone else to do it?" - Words of wisdom by the very talented and effervescent Joe Bird. Jo is an accomplished creative director, creative coach, mentor, speaker, photographer, and all around inspiring personality on LinkedIn. She's here to share a lesson she's learned along her journey about the importance of creating your own personal brand as a creative that will help you stand out from the crowd and build credibility.

Remote work….love it or hate it, it’s here to stay. That means leaders need to accept it, embrace it, adapt to it and keep on leading. On today’s show, we’re speaking to Patrick Holly, Executive Creative Director at Upwork who shares his 5 Keys to Effective Remote Leadership. And spoiler alert…it has zero to do with monitoring peoples computer activity and everything to do with just being a good human being.

Kevin is a self-proclaimed Creative Renegade. He is Executive Creative Direction & Founder of Juniper Jones which serves in-house agencies with insight driven creative & smile-producing content that challenges the status quo. And on the show, he will share his thoughts on how strong leadership and collective ownership leads to the best creative output.

It's important to have heroes in our business. People we can look up to, learn from, and even mimic while we search for our own voice. Chief Creative Officer Clarence Bradley, a self-proclaimed advertising nerd, had plenty of heroes coming up, but not too many that looked like him. But that didn't stop him from seeking out mentors and guidance he needed and in some ways becoming his own hero.

When we think of creative directors, we immediately think of people working in ad agencies. But there's a whole other world of CDs who are working on the client side, at design firms, marketing agencies, or at PR companies like my guest Nipa Eason. Nipa is a brilliant Creative Director from Tallahassee, Florida, who has been working exclusively in PR for the last several years, and she's here to share some things she's learned along her journey, specifically some misconceptions and misunderstandings that happen between the PR side of the house and the creative team at a PR agency. So if you're working in PR as a creative, you're going to want to pay special attention to this episode.

A fascinating conversation with a fascinating creative mind! Tom Christmann sees our world in a very different way. He's an evangelist for the use of found content and believes that we're already living in the Metaverse, where creativity is ripe for the picking everywhere you look. Prepare to have your mind blown several times during this wide ranging conversation.

Jordan Brady is the real f'ing deal! A former stand up comedian turned highly sought-after director, Jordan has directed over 1300 spots, 4 feature films, 3 documentaries, 1 Netflix Comedy Special and coined the phrase Bow-Chicka-Bow-Wow, true story! 

In this episode he shares tips, tricks and best practices for working with a commercial director as an agency creative director. Spoiler alert....make sure craft services has jicama, be patient and don't be a dick. 

To learn more about Jordan, including information about his film directing school, visit truegent.tv. 

George Tannenbaum's mind is filled with weird connections, colorful characters and an encyclopedic knowledge of the agency business. This wide ranging conversation is like a roller-coaster ride through the lessons he's learned about creating great work during a storied career that continues today with his one-mad-man shop GeorgeCo.  

Pitching (read: pitching and losing 90 percent of the time) is one of the hardest and most frustrating parts of being a Creative Director. We've been taught to believe that great ideas sell themselves. That couldn't be further from the truth. On the very first Confessions of a Creative Director Mastercast, pitch and presentation Yoda-like guru Ben Levy lets us in on the big secret....PITCHING THE WRONG F@#$%^& BRIEF WE ARE. 

Group Creative Director Mike Potter has been around the block. From building the first websites for some of the biggest clients in the world to helping build communities for brands, Mike has a passion for emerging technologies and disciplines. Check out our great conversation where we talk about everything from his Hit The Mascot ideation technique to ad agency hijinks of the past. 

Sarah May Bates is by far the most accomplished guest I've had on the show thus far. She is the ultimate multi-hyphenate renaissance woman. Check out this amazing conversation where we talk about everything from her personal journey to become her authentic self to auditioning to star in some of her own TV spots! You really have to listen all the way through.  

Will Chau is Vice President of Creative and Design at Whole Food Market. He and his team oversee and produce most every single touchpoint a consumer might have with the brand - from TV ads to social media to package design to in-store signage and everything in between. And while the former agency CD still gets a thrill from big campaign work he's come to really love and enjoy the nitty gritty detail work that drives a consumer's IRL experience with the brands. Enjoy this wide-ranging conversation on everything from lessons learned from a hard-nosed instructor to a confession about pitching new clients that will make you chuckle. 

Ty Stafford is the real deal. As ECD Content at NVE Experience Agency, he's helping take the historically experiential agency to new heights by leveraging the whole of his experience, from early breakout YouTuber to cutting his teeth at the iconic RedBull Media House to being named to the Forbes 30 under 30 in Marketing in Advertising. Listen to our amazing conversation and take special note of his big takeaway - YOU have the power to carve your own path in the creative industry. 

Ashley Davis Marshall...the name alone should tell you she means business. An ECD at The Martin Agency, Ashley shares valuable lessons and thoughts she's gathered along a journey that is the envy of any creative professional. Plus, three-quarters of her recipe for queso dip (hmmm, she left out her secret ingredient!) and a somewhat surprising realization about the possible cause of her imposter syndrome. 

Sonny Thomas, SVP Creative Director of PureRED, is a Renaissance Man. He's a designer, painter, musician, songwriter and all around cool dude. Check out our conversation on everything from the influence of his mentor, to techniques to quiet your brain before an ideation session to the strange new world of AI art. 

You wouldn't know it based on her down to earth vibe, but ECD Jaclyn Rink Crowley has a resume and career path any creative director, myself included, would kill (or at least slap someone with a tortilla) for. From Bozell, to Saatchi & Saatchi, to BBDO, to Silver and Partners to Weiden + Kennedy to most recently Anomaly in NYC. I mean...c'mon. Listen to this unvarnished, honest conversation that culminates with one of the best and most vulnerable confessions we've had on the show IMO. 

On the latest episode, Jaime talks to Creative Director and Founder of Ataboy Studios Vikkal Parikh, on everything from his love of assembling Ikea furniture to the importance of the Creative Brief and being technique agnostic. 

Check out a great conversation with CD Zach Connolly as we talk about everything from how to craft great concepts to ideas on how to amp up pitch presentations! You don't want to miss this one! 

Aaron Duffy is the ECD of SpecialGuest, a different kind of creative agency run by a different type of Creative Director. A talented "maker" at heart, Aaron brings that unique perspective to everything he does, and it's evident in his work for Google and the band OK Go just to name a few. Check out our awesome conversation as he shares his love of crocheting and illusions and what he dislikes most about being a CD. 

Check out my conversation with CD Brad Meyers as he shares his analogy of Creative Director as "Dad" and confesses to some harmless "set-lifting". Plus, the story of how he got to pitch ideas to Simpsons creator Matt Groening! 

It's never too late to become a creative. Just ask my guest Leigh Browne, CD at GSD&M in Austin, Texas. After spending a few years as a newspaper journalist in the boondocks of California, she decided to make a change. And as they say, the rest is history. She's gone on to win some big awards, create a Super Bowl Spot and help fan the flames of the great Chicken Sandwich Wars. Not too shabby for late creative bloomer. 

Joel Kaplan shares his journey from cook, to accountant to receptionist at an ad agency all the way up to ECD at M/H in San Francisco. I guess you could say he's a Joel of All Trades and Master of Creativity. Ok, that was bad. But this episode is freaking great! Hear his perspective on everything from the future of our business (hint: buckle up, it's gonna get faster!) to leadership lessons he's learned from Ted Lasso. 

On this episode, Jaime talks to Emily Neubauer of Horizontal Digital about her new journey as Associate Creative Director. Hear her Frozen 2 based thoughts on Design Thinking and the art of the client pitch.