Colin is a freelance copywriter in NYC, Goodby before that. There are a couple of not-miss pieces on his site that I must point out and you Must. Not. Miss. Under Internet, check out the HBO short films directed by Sam Mendes. And under Writing, go to McSweeney’s Humor Essays and read “It’s Decorative Gourd Season, Motherfuckers”. It made coffee shoot out my nose.
Portfolio: www.colinnissan.com
Mike is a senior copywriter at Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners in Sausalito, Cole & Weber before that. Awesome awesome awesome site filled with amazing work. I’m a sucker for the long copy, and Mike’s writing on his US Department of State campaign is just beautiful. Give yourself some time to savor and enjoy this one.
Portfolio: tutonglobalwide.com
Jake is a copywriter at Goodby in San Francisco, Saatchi NY before that. Good writers have the ability to shed themselves and write in character. Good copywriters have the ability to shed themselves and write in brand. (I just made that up. Deep!) Stepping through Jake’s book, he just nails brand after brand. His Tide campaign is clean. His ASPCA campaign is heartbreaking. His Fruit By The Foot ad is fun. His Hyundai campaign is a Cannes Lions 2009 Titanium Award Winner.
Portfolio: lovetownusa.com
Ben is a copywriter at Grey NY. Before that, he was an intern at The Village Voice. He graduated from Duke in ’05 and already has a nice reel (Captain Morgan, E*Trade) on his site and a Gold Pencil on his mantel. Except he’s in NYC, so the Gold Pencil is probably on top of his mini-fridge.
Portfolio: bhuser.com
Aryan is a freelance copywriter in L.A., David & Goliath and Saatchi before going solo. There’s a crazy variety of clients represented on her site: bowling, casino, cough suppressant, beer, Freddy Krueger at Universal Studios (above print ad is from that campaign). Looove the lorem ipsum home page.
Portfolio: aryanaminzadeh.com
Kent is a copywriter at CP+B, and was at Carmichael Lynch, element79 and DDB Chicago before that. His site is a classic blog format, everything on one page, which I find super easy to navigate. He’s got a great mix of work in his book, including a slick new site for Diamond Crystal Salt, hilarious Ted Ferguson TV and Real Men of Genius radio for Bud Light, and a campaign for Harley-Davidson featuring Marissa Miller. Enough said.
Portfolio: kentcarmichaelsbook.blogspot.com
Mike is a copywriter at Fallon in Minneapolis. All of the work on his site is awesome, but the print is what really gets me. The guy can just flat out write.
Portfolio: Click here
Luissandro is a copywriter/CD at Grey Paris. He shares a site with AD/CD Giovanni Settesoldi. Their work makes me want to scratch my career and start over. (In Paris, please.) Magnifique.
Portfolio: pioneer-plaque.com
Tim is a freelance copywriter in NYC after 3+ years at Chiat. He’s got work on his site for Snickers, Starburst, et cetera, that’s written wicked brainiac smart. (He actually got a reference to Jonas Salk onto a Snickers board. Yes, I’m jealous.) It’s so refreshing to see work that assumes consumers are smart enough to get it. Tip o’ the Hat.
Portfolio: timwassler.com
Jake is a freelance copywriter in Los Angeles, CP+B before that, McKinney Silver before that. His site is loaded with interactive. There’s also a link to his blog, aptly titled “jakefood,” which features photos of everything he eats. Yes, everything.
Portfolio: jakemikosh.com
Desmond is a copywriter/CD/SVP at DraftFCB in SF, before that Element 79, before that Leo Burnett. His site is my holiday gift to you. When you’ve had enough of the relatives and need a little break – pour a glass of wine, grab the laptop and excuse yourself for some advertising awesomeness.
Portfolio: desmondswork.com
Adrian is one half of an Austin freelance creative team with AD Rochelle Raiss. Before that he did time at GSD&M and CP+B, with a stint in Barack Obama’s presidential campaign sandwiched between the two. Adrian and Rochelle call themselves Third Culture Kidz, which they describe on their site as “someone who, as a child, has spent a significant period of time in one or more culture(s) other than his or her own, thus integrating elements of those cultures and their own birth culture, into a third culture.”
Portfolio: thirdculturekidz.com
Ryan is a freelance copywriter in Los Angeles, Leo Burnett before that, Carmichael Lynch before that. His site is filled with great stuff from Carmichael – classic, awesome Minneapolis print – for Harley and Porsche. Love it.
Portfolio: ryaninda.com
Aaron is a Senior Writer at Tauntr in Boston, Kirshenbaum before that, Cole & Weber before that. (He’s also a fellow Oregon Duck, yes!) His site is juiced. I found myself spending as much time playing around with the nav as I did looking at the work – and I mean that in a good way. It’s fun times.
Portfolio: aaronrobnett.com
Janet Champ is the reason I’m a copywriter. Period. When I was in Journalism School at U of Oregon, she and AD Charlotte Moore were changing advertising forever with one unbelievably brilliant campaign for Nike Women. For my money, Janet Champ is the best copywriter to ever put a pen to paper.
Portfolio: champandmoore.com
Miles is a copywriter/CD in Las Vegas. His work is interesting in part because most of it is for one industry: Las Vegas casinos. And from the looks of it, he’s done big campaigns for just about all of ’em.
Portfolio: milesnebeker.com
Pete is a copywriter at Arnold Boston. His site is super quick: two spots, two print campaigns, two interactive campaigns, resumé, contact, done. Makes you want more. Makes you want to call Pete, “Hey, Pete. Love it! What else?” And, really, isn’t that the point of a portfolio site? To prompt that call? Yes. Yes it is.
Portfolio: comistaken.com
Grant is a freelance copywriter/CD at Handsome Advertising, BBDO NY before that, Cliff Freeman before that. He shares his site with creative partner Richard Artdito. Their book almost forced me to break my “one piece per post” rule. Their Red Stripe campaign is amazing. They also did a Budget Moving Truck campaign (in their Alternative Media section) that’s equally amazing. In the end, I choose beer over trucks. Go figure.
Portfolio: grantandrick.com
Chris is a copywriter at Deutsch in LA. And yes, I’m a sucker for the agency self-promo.
Portfolio: christorrens.com
I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to feature Lawson’s site. He used to work at Arnold. Now he doesn’t. I’ll let you discover the rest on your own.
Portfolio: malecopywriter.com
Ryan is a copywriter at Arnold Boston, and Chiat before that. The work on his site is laid out in one, long linear (left to right) string, TV to print to integrated. What nice about that is that Ryan has done all the work for you. Look at this, then this, then this, etc. He shows you what’s important to him. In addition, there’s nav in the upper right that allows you to go back through it at your leisure. Oh, and the work. It starts with that killer Nissan spot where all of the college team mascots – real life versions of them – are chasing the Nissan pick-up with the Heisman trophy strapped in the bed (awesome), and doesn’t let up from there.
Portfolio: ryandeanwaite.com
Jeff is a copywriter/CD at Google Creative Lab in NYC, CP+B before that. I love the look and functionality of his site. It’s super clean. As you would expect, there’s a lot of great work. But what really blows me away are his inventions. In addition to being an ACD/copywriter, Jeff is an inventor. A real inventor. As in, he makes stuff. Check out Coffee Coals®. If they were at Target, everyone on my Xmas list would have ’em.
Portfolio: jeffgillette.com
Carl is a copywriter/CD at Wieden + Kennedy, Amsterdam. He also has an agency-company-creative business thing called Mutant, Inc., that he runs with his long-time creative partner/AD, Anja Duering, who is also a CD at W+K. Got all that? If not, visit their site and all will be revealed. Along with a ton of absolutely fabulous work.
Portfolio: mutantinc.com
David is a copywriter at David & Goliath, and before that Chiat, and before that CP+B. I had a hard time choosing one piece to post. He’s got an AMAZING print campaign for Method, and I almost went there. But, you know, I’m just a sucker for photos of great writing out there in real life.
Portfolio: davidpovill.com
Robyn is a freelance copywriter in San Francisco, previously at Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners. Her book is filled with absolutely awesome writing – and I mean filled. She’s got a couple booklet/brochures for MINI that she just wrote the hell out of, including one of my all-time faves, Field Guide To Good Motoring. To top it off, she’s into taxidermy.
Portfolio: robyngunn.com
Van is a copywriter/ACD at space150 in Minneapolis, and before that design shop Little & Co, and before that design shop Carmichael Lynch Thorburn. You can tell Van knows exactly how to write for designers. His book is gorgeous.
Portfolio: behance.net/vhorgen
Dave is a CD/writer at Blattner Brunner in Pittsburg. He’s got fantastic campaigns for Zippo and Juicy Fruit on his site. He’s also got campaigns for Consol Energy and Navy Federal Credit Union that are harder working, but clean and smart. It’s nice to see a book with clients/brands that are a little more straight-forward, but who are buying work that’s portfolio-worthy. Tip o’ the Hat.
Portfolio: davekwasnick.com
William is a freelance copywriter in NYC, Wieden + Kennedy London before that. What I love about his portfolio is that it’s filled with ideas. Literally. Campaign ideas, script ideas, written out. Now that, my friends, is brave. And it works – because the ideas, and the writing, are great.
Portfolio: williamspencer.com
Brooks is a copywriter at GSP in SF. One of my fave things about his site, other than the work, is the size of it. Just enough to know he’s a kick ass writer. I’m left wanting more, which is how it should be.
Portfolio: Click here
Mark is a copywriter/CD in Boston, most recently at Arnold. And how about this – in addition to copywriting, he’s written the world’s best-selling book on fantasy football. His site is dual purpose, featuring both his ad portfolio and his books.
Portfolio: markstamant.com