WHO'S THIS MIKE GUY, ANYWAY?
Interesting career so far. Shot a TV spot in a WWII bunker in Poland. Fed wild lines to Joan Rivers. Also created a little ad that broke the internet, changed social media forever, ended up cited in Twitter's IPO filing, and is now part of college curriculum. Not bad.
I've spent the better part of two decades leaving creative departments better than I found them — building some from scratch, overhauling others, and everywhere in between. Different companies. Different problems. Same outcome.
Been on the agency side. The brand side. Looking forward to the next side.
WHERE I'VE BEEN
Dataminr
VP, Head of Brand & Creative
08/03/24 - present
Toptal
Executive Creative Director
02/2021 - 07/25/24
UEG
VP, Executive Creative Director
09/2018 - 12/2020
Freelance
Creative Director
01/2018 - 08/2018
Leader of brand and creative at a global AI-powered threat intelligence company. Walked in, assessed the brand, and rebuilt it from the ground up. Revamped the creative team, upgraded its capabilities, and together, we made the work better. Different company. Different challenge. Same result.
ECD of the in-house creative department. Upleveled and increased the output of creative, grew the team to match our hyper-growth, and built a creative culture in a place that didn't have one.
Head of the creative department, where I expanded the capabilities of the agency, deepening our experiential thinking while flexing our social, film, and conceptual muscles. Clients included Asics, The North Face, SC Johnson, BMW, Pernod Ricard, and Little Caesars, to name a few.
Worked with Chobani, Pressed Juicery, and Playboy on brand, campaigns, and social activations. Three interesting brands. One great year.
360i
Group Creative Director
02/2011 - 12/2018
Coming to an agency without a creative reputation, the remit was clear: build one. So that's what I did — laying the conceptual and executional foundation from the ground up, and, for the first year, serving as its de facto CCO. Then, four years later, opened the LA office. On OREO, turned a stagnant account into some of the most recognized work in the industry. On HBO, grew a modest redesign project into seasonal launches across nearly a dozen shows. Other accounts included Diageo, Toyota, A&E, Nestlé, Ubisoft, Fox Entertainment, and a whole lot more.
Razorfish
ACD / Creative Director
08/2007 - 01/2011
Part of the core team that built the marketing capability at the New York office. One of the lead creatives on the pitch that won AXE — the agency's first major advertising and social business — and ran it after the win, alongside Nasonex, Capital One, and All Laundry. Stayed active on New Biz throughout, including helping win Sheraton on my last day. Also crossed the aisle to work with the platform team on Mercedes.
Modem (PubMo)
Associate Creative Director
06/2006 - 07/2008
My first job in the digital space — and on day one, the ECD handed me all things digital for Delta Air Lines. They were just coming out of bankruptcy, and we seized on it. Among the first movers in the Facebook apps space, and created podcast programs before podcasts were podcasts. A great experience that jump-started everything.
DraftFCB
Senior Copywriter
04/2000 - 06/2006
It was my first real agency job, so I wrote pretty much everything from half a billion scripts for Compaq/HP to another half a billion print ads for Verizon Wireless and Avis.
WHAT I'VE WON
Emmy
nominee (still cool)
Cannes Lions
grand prix, gold, silver, bronze
One Show
gold, bronze, short list
Clio
gold, bronze
Shortys
Effie
Facebook Studio
Webbys
ADA (formerly Omma)
IAB Mixx
Adweek 's Project Issac
Award of Montreux
Digiday
Fab Award
And so on...