MC is psyched to see headline campaigns all over Circus CW portfolios this Summer. I count six such campaigns in Sarah’s book alone. “But wait,” you retort. “Just how in demand are good headline writers these days?” To which MC replies, “Congratulations Sarah Anderson on your new job at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco!” Dig it.
Portfolio: sarahaanderson.com
Big thanks to Brent Goldman for hooking up Creative Circus Summer 2012 on MC. Definitely some strong books coming out of Circus as of late, as evidenced by most of this graduating class already having new jobs or internships (who’s where on Friday). Love it.
Portfolio: brent-goldman.com
Johanna is a copywriter in Los Angeles. MC is a big fan of awesome illustration/animation, who isn’t? Lots of it on Johanna’s site. Check out: H.D. Buttercup, Papaya King, Hansaplast, The Cold Hearted Thief (cover), Until We Bleed (type), etc. Dig it.
Portfolio: cargocollective.com/johannawidegren
Ladies and gentlemen, MC is proud to present the portfolio sites of the University of Oregon 2012 copywriter grads (in alphabetical order):
Adam Panetta – adampanetta.com
Alex Walentin – cargocollective.com/alexwalentin
Beckett Short – cargocollective.com/beckettshort
Ben Novak – cargocollective.com/bennovak
Breanne Thomas – breannethomas.net
Brenden Morgan – brenden-morgan.com
Don Whitlatch – cargocollective.com/doncwhitlatch
Eric Perrenoud – ericperrenoud.com
James Mueller – jamesjmueller.me
Justin Han – justinandrewhan.com
Kelsey Wilkins – kelseywilkins.com
Kris Cantrell – cargocollective.com/kriscantrell
Michelle McKenzie – michellermckenzie.com
Nickolaus Sugai – nicksugai.com
Niki Naboulsi – nikinaboulsi.com
Tyler Carrington – tycarrington.com
Nick shares a couple of campaigns with Niki Naboulsi (featured Tuesday), as happens when you’re in school, sharing resources, collaborating, etc. MC likes the teamwork. Anyway, also on Nick’s site be sure to check out: NASA, Fantasy Trainwrecks, and U of O Advertising. Love to see all of the real-life books being made and shot for portfolios. Love to see print alive and well, in any form. Very cool.
Portfolio: nicksugai.com
So interesting to see the trends running through CW portfolio sites at different schools. From Oregon, lots of poetry and beautiful video. (Not unexpected, with the W+K influence.) As an Oregon alum, I love Tyler’s time-lapse piece “Miniature Eugene.” Ah, Eugene.
Portfolio: tycarrington.com
Oregon is Oregon, and you know when you go through an Oregon site there’s going to be some stuff that’s just out. Because that’s how Ducks do it. You also know you’re going to find stuff that’s just fun. Like Niki’s “Sweaty Little Secrets” campaign for Champion sweatpants. Or a page of pics of Oregon students, and when you hover over them, they laugh. Good times.
Portfolio: nikinaboulsi.com
What do you want to see on a graduating copywriter’s site (in addition to great writing)? How far from “five campaigns plus a video” can they go? What’s relevant and what’s not? Physical artifacts of their dreams? Unsolicited signs out in the wild? Do those count? MC thinks yes.
Portfolio: breannethomas.net
Ladies and gentlemen, MC presents the portfolio sites of eight Chicago Portfolio School 2012 Fall copywriter grads (in alphabetical order):
McCamie Cole – cargocollective.com/mccamiecole
Steve Horak – cargocollective.com/stevehorak
Eleanor Koh – eleanorkoh.com
Sara Kristen – sarakirsten.com
Laura Madary – cargocollective.com/lauramadary
Johnny Michael – cargocollective.com/johnnymichael
Mark Sandy – markpsandy.com
Will Sharpe – cargocollective.com/willsharpe
Even though MC is a huge fan of Cargo Collective, it’s nice to see someone try something different. Sara’s site is beautiful, and changes color like the bar at XYZ in the W San Francisco. Can’t … stop … looking … pretty … colors …
Portfolio: sarakirsten.com
You can do things in a student book that you can’t do in real life. That’s part of the fun of making them, and part of the fun of looking at them. Looks like Will had a lot of fun making his.
Portfolio: cargocollective.com/willsharpe
Big-ups to McCamie Cole for helping organize this year’s Chicago Portfolio School Week on MC. Much appreciated. You know, there’s nothing better than finding the perfect line for a campaign. Once that’s nailed, everything gets easier, from executing to selling. McCamie’s got a couple of gems in his book. “A thousand pictures for every word” for Flickr, and “Get out what you put into it” for Public Storage.
Portfolio: cargocollective.com/mccamiecole
Will is a copywriter/CD at Kirshenbaum in New York. So much killer work in his book, including a ton of stuff for BMW. His site is Cargo, and is broken out into six categories: Latest Work, Branded Content, Web, TV, Print/OOH, and Case Studies. Interesting, because you can view the work by media (old school) or by case study/campaign (new school) or just check out the latest. All in six links. Very cool.
Portfolio: bloodsweatideas.com
Jeff is a copywriter at McGarry Bowen in NYC. As part of his work for State Farm, he writes Facebook posts for Alfonso Ribeiro (from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air). That’s fun. But who would be the ultimate person to write as/for on FB? MC’s pick: Burt Reynolds.
Portfolio: jeffreyscardino.com
Scott is a senior copywriter at VITRO in San Diego. Know what makes MC happy? Flipping through a portfolio and seeing killer writing all over the place. Long copy writing. Pages and pages of it. Because that means someone was doing some writing, and selling some writing, and buying some writing, and producing some writing. Which makes MC happy. And that’s a good way to start a Friday.
Portfolio: scojomojo.com
Ladies and gentlemen, MC is honored to present the portfolio sites of the 2012 VCU Brandcenter graduating copywriters (in alphabetical order):
Daniel Aguinaga: danielaguinaga.com
David Ashton: davidjashton.com
Christopher Brotzman: chrisbrotzman.com
Phil Clockers: phil.clockers.org
Lonnie Elliott: lonnieelliott.com
Matt Garcia: cargocollective.com/rmattgarcia
Craig Gerringer: cargocollective.com/cgerringer
Bri Hand: secrethidingplaceofbrihand.com
Bryce Isaacson: bryceisaacson.com
Alina Karabaich: karabaich.com
Patrick Kraft: patrickkraft.com
Alex Ledford: alexledford.com
Yahkeema Moffitt: yahkeema.com
Mariana Oliveira: heymar.com
Nick Park: cargocollective.com/nickpark
Brandon Poole: bpoole.com
Johnathan Ranson: iamjonransom.com
Whitney Ruef: whitneyruef.com
David Satterfield: david-satterfield.com
Ben Schneider: schneiderben.com
Chris Sheldon: crsheldon.com
Scott Thomasch: cargocollective.com/LostBoy
Jeff Vitkun: jeffvitkun.com
Tedd Wood: teddwood.org
What do CDs and recruiters look for in a graduating CW’s portfolio? Well, for starters, work that looks like someone had fun making it. Whitney’s definitely falls into that category. In addition to ads, she’s got Greeting Cards for Cardless Occasions, Depressed Copywriter submissions, and Horsewarming—a relaunch of Digital Kitchen. Awesome.
Portfolio: whitneyruef.com
MC is a fan of funny. If you can write funny and smart, there’s at least a 51% chance you’ll make it as a copywriter. Craig can write it funny. Check out his Jack Handy-esque campaign for Bigelow Tea (above). And there are good times all up and down his site. Including a Movember vid. Which is just. I mean.
Portfolio: http://cargocollective.com/cgerringer
There are copywriters. And there are writer/copywriters. Lonnie is the latter. His ‘Preamble’ taken directly from his site: “Fact: Dyson vacuums use the same plastic as riot shields. I’ve never understood writers who work best by distancing themselves from the details of a product. For me, the opposite is true. Knowledge fuels my creative thinking. Working on a problem is like a game of chess. It only takes a few pieces to checkmate the king, but I never know which ones until I start playing. The Dyson fact above remains my favorite crumb of information found while researching a campaign. It was later abandoned, like many others, for lacking the relevancy to become an ad. Such is the process. And for many reasons, why I love it.”
Portfolio: lonnieelliott.com
VCU Brandcenter Week 2012 kicks off with The Secret Hiding Place of Bri Hand. So much to love in her book. Be sure to check out Google Search Stories, a project she did while interning at Google Creative Labs. Awesome.
Portfolio: secrethidingplaceofbrihand.com
Bryan is a copywriter/ACD at Leo Burnett Chicago. Since his last post on MC (Dec 2009, one of MC’s first), he’s got a shiny new Cargo site and all kinds of killer new work. Love it. Definitely time for an Update.
Portfolio: cargocollective.com/bryankarr
Tyler is a senior writer at JacobsonRost in Chicago. First campaign on his site, for Mercury Marine Edge, is a real deal long copy print campaign. (They still make ’em!) Add a QR code in the lower right corner and you just made an interactive long copy print campaign. New old school. How’s about that?
Portfolio: tylerbkirk.com
Right from Kate’s site, because MC couldn’t write it any better: Should we address the elephant in the room? “Is this middle name real? Danger? Are we dealing with delayed adolescence? Is she going to be trouble? Can she bake?” Well to answer: yes, yes, no, sort of, and yes*.
Portfolio: katedangerbaynham.com
Justin’s campaign for Febreze features cartoon characters—who wear the same clothes all the time—spraying their clothes with Febreze and the tag, “Wear it more than once.” Genius. And don’t miss Zippo Burn Box, which torches the Facebook posts of your ex after you break-up. Also genius.
Portfolio: justinstuartralph.com
Check out Meredith’s fun escalator overlay for Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest: a never-ending stream of hot dogs, escalating down into an open mouth. Why does that make MC hungry for chili dogs and tater tots? Because MC is always hungry for chili dogs and tater tots, of course.
Portfolio: meredithkarr.com
Can’t graduate in 2012 without an iPhone app in your portfolio. Nikolaus has one of the coolest MC has ever seen. Flip The F*ck Out turns your iPhone into a skateboard. You do tricks, flipping it with your hand, for points. Love it.
Portfolio: nikolausdrellow.com
Chris is a new copywriter at Solve in Minneapolis. MC had the pleasure of having Chris in a class at Brainco (back when MC was in Minneapolis), and not only is he one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet, he’s also something like 6’8″. Or maybe it just seemed like it. Anyway, congrats on the new gig, Mr. Hill. Well done.
Portfolio: cargocollective.com/chill
Jim is a copywriter/CD in Portland and a fellow Oregon Duck (Go Ducks!). Love the way he presents digital on his site. You can click around and explore it for yourself, or you can watch a killer highlight reel set to the Chemical Brothers in two and a half minutes. Dig it.
Portfolio: themothership.cc
Brian is a writer at AKQA in San Francisco. You know what’s fun? Clicking through someone’s portfolio, and you see they’ve got a big Tony Stewart TV spot on there, one of TBS’ Funniest Commercials of 2010. That’s first. Then, you skip down to what’s last, in the Other Stuff section, and you find a headshot of Brian on socks and tighty whities, proudly gifted to and displayed by his family at holiday time. You just. I mean. You can’t beat that.
Portfolio: bookofbutton.com
Stephen is a recent Portfolio Center grad, in NYC this week, looking for his first job. So, if you’re in NYC, looking for a fresh CW grad, and you dig his work, this would be an excellent time to give him a shout.
Portfolio: stepcanthink.com