I'm a freelance Creative Director/Copywriter, based in Boston. But I've worked with agencies and clients, both large and small, across the country.
I started my advertising career about as far away from creative as one can possibly get. I was a media buyer. How astonishingly uninteresting. I loved it at the time though because it was at Hill Holliday Boston, an agency I have enormous respect for and is recognized around the world for its creative prowess. I remember I used to go down to the creative floor after hours and look at the work on the walls that people were working on. I was so inspired by it that I absolutely knew what I wanted to get into. You guessed it. Account management. Sure, it was a circuitous route but I learned a ton about how an agency works.
Two years later, I was working in Hill Holliday's New York office when they hired a copy master named Joe O'Neill. I looked at the work he had done on BMW and Club Med and was awestruck at just how intelligent advertising could be. In fact, one ad for BMW motorcycles was particularly inspiring to me. The headline was "Ride a motorcycle that didn't break any speed records on the assembly line." Once I saw that, I was sold. I put together a portfolio in a matter of two weeks, showed the work to Joe, and he hired me on the spot. (About a month later.)
After a year or so, I was hired by the legendary Hall of Fame Creative Director/Art Director Roy Grace, and the equally illustrious Hall of Fame Creative Director/Copywriter Diane Rothschild, both of whom left DDB to start their own smaller, more hands-on agency, Grace & Rothschild.
After 11 years of working on global brands such as Land Rover, J&B Scotch, Franjelico, and Mobil 1, as well as smaller clients like Mount Sinai Hospital, Whittle Communications and Omnipoint Wireless, I, along with some very talented art directors had hauled in awards and recognition from virtually every advertising show there is.
It was a great foundation to build on as I ventured out into the freelance world. I've had the chance to work with so many different agencies and clients and to diversify my brand experience exponentially. I've developed some great relationships along the way. And while there are no awards given for that, it's what I value most.