Sarah graduated from Creative Circus in 2011 and has been a copywriter at Leo Burnett in Chicago ever since. Her book is a mix of real world and student, which MC always finds super interesting. Don’t miss her retro ad for Mayhem that appeared in the Mad Men issue of Newsweek. Dream assignment, geez.
Portfolio: sarahgatling.com
Drago is a senior copywriter at Publicis Groupe in Slovenia. (MC’s first portfolio from Slovenia. Yes!) Ever wondered what a awesome book from Slovenia looks like? Wonder no longer. Love it.
Portfolio: cargocollective.com/dragomlakar
Since his last post on MC (5/22/12), Jeff has moved from mcgarrybowen to Ogilvy NYC, and added a bunch of new work to his site (Cargo). Time for an update!
Portfolio: jeffreyscardino.com
Evan is a copywriter at Arnold Boston, been there since 2010. Little tangent here. After clicking through Evan’s site (good stuff!), MC kept going back to his Volvo Summer project. Is it completely cliché that MC now wants a 1966 Volvo P1800? Is it too “thirtysomething” Micheal Steadman? Probably. But that’s a NICE car.
Portfolio: evanjdunn.com
Andrew is a freelance copywriter/CD based in Los Angeles, available globally (previous MC post 3.19.12). He’s all about cars. His entire portfolio is cars — and when you scroll through it, you quickly realize he’s worked on just about every car brand out there. He recently traded in his old site for a new 2013 model (tumblr), so time for an MC update.
Portfolio: andrewbaker77.tumblr.com
Aaron is a senior copywriter at Pulsar in D.C. He’s got a crazy mix of clients and projects on his site, including Dentyne Fire, the ACLU, the Smithsonian National Postal Museum, Arlington Co. Commuter Services, and 3 Bar & Grill. Good times.
Portfolio: aaronspratt.com
Julie is a senior copywriter at 360i NYC. She’s been a writer/CD in NYC since 2004, when she got her start at Mad Dogs & Englishmen. MC is always interested to see what CW’s include on their About Us pages. For example, personal recommendations. At the bottom of Julie’s About Us, she’s got two fantastic notes from Kash Sree and Noah Kerner. How do you beat that?
Portfolio: julierutigliano.com
Otilia is a copywriter in NYC, graduated from Miami Ad School last year, spent nine months at Anomaly, and is now looking for her next gig. Her book is that new-copywriter mix of produced work and student spec, which MC thinks is awesome to see. What did Otilia create at M.A.S.? And then, what did she produce immediately after, at Anomaly? Check it out.
Portfolio: otiliadobrea.com
Kiyomi is lead copywriter in-house at Lafayette 148 in NYC, previously in-house at Kiehl’s. She graduated with a B.A. in Creative Writing, and has worked her way into a copywriting career without the portfolio school stop. It’s possible!
Portfolio: cargocollective.com/kiyomidong
Brooke is a digital copywriter from Chicago who just moved to Philadelphia (available for full-time/freelance). She’s a graduate of the Second City writing program and you can tell—hilarious writing all over her site. Don’t miss her zombie work for Sears.com. So gross. So fun.
Portfolio: cargocollective.com/brookerandel
Jen is a copywriter at RPA in Los Angeles, soon relocating to NYC. She’s got a bunch of cool work for Honda on her site. But if you’ve spent any time listening to NPR (what writer hasn’t?), don’t miss her Faces of NPR project. Ira Glass looks just like Ira Glass!
Portfolio: jenwinstondotcom.com
Brian is a copywriter in San Francisco. Since his first post on MC (March 2012), he’s moved from AKQA to Digitas and added some new work for eBay and Taco Bell to his portfolio — including a series of shorts for eBay called “eBay Thanks You.” Sometimes a story needs more than 30 or 60 seconds, you know? Also, MC would like Jonathan Adler’s beach house, please.
Portfolio: bookofbutton.com
Patrick is a new-ish copywriter in Los Angeles, after 10 years of performing sketch and improv comedy. (Again, says MC, comedians and drummers = the best copywriters.) There’s some hilarious stuff on his site, including a campaign for Ryan Airlines: “With prices this cheap, shut the f*ck up.” Nice. Don’t miss the video of 6-year-old Patrick called “All About Pat” at the bottom of the page Schedule a Kissing Consultation. MC was that kid, too.
Portfolio: patrickthedroll.com
Phil is a copywriter/creative director in Los Angeles. He’s done a ton of work for the film industry (awesome) — posters, trailers, sites, etc. He displays most of his work on tilt viewer, which has its pros and cons. Pros, you can click through it quickly. Cons, it’s hard for MC to snap a straight-up screen shot of a piece of work without a cursor smack in the middle of it. (Arrrg, tilt viewer!) Still, very cool to see a CW having fun with the movies in LaLa. Good times.
Portfolio: boldstandard.com
Carolyn is a writer/group creative director at mcgarrybowen Chicago. Ton of work on her site for big name bevs like Crystal Light and Maxwell House. Beach Body (above) for Crystal Light is hilarious. The CL drinker’s delivery of “I can help you with that” and “I’m gonna get wet” are so perfect. Nice.
Portfolio: carolynbergen.com
Shloimy is a copywriter at kbs+ in NYC. He shares a site with creative partner/art director Chad O’Connell. At the time of this post, they’ve got six projects up on their site — but all six are great and that’s what counts. Like their spot for AdCouncil/AdoptUSKids. Is that real mayo??? Ugh.
Portfolio: chadandshloimy.com
Chris is a freelance copywriter in San Francisco (and a fellow Oregon Duck — go Ducks!). Since his last post on MC (Nov 21, 2009), he’s got a new site with a ton of new work from killer shops like Pereira & O’Dell, Hub Strategy, AKQA, Eleven … and on and on. Dig it.
Portfolio: chriselzinga.com
Ladies and gentlemen, MC proudly presents the portfolio sites of nine Chicago Portfolio School copywriter grads (in alphabetical order):
Alf Zapata – alfzap.com
Alicia Cressey – aliciacressey.com
Brett Williams – gbrettwilliams.com
John O’Toole – cargocollective.com/TheJohnOTooleExperience
Kerry Keady – kerrykeady.com
Kylie Hudgens – kylie-hudgens-02ye.squarespace.com
Megha Kumar – megkumar.com
Pete Kulak – petekulak.com
Rick Hickey – rickhickey.com
Anthony is a senior copywriter at Anomaly in NYC. So much awesome hilarity up and down his site. Anthony is also a member of the Upright Citizens Brigade, and in a punk band called Wrad. Proving, yet again, MC’s theory that comedians and musicians make the best copywriters.
Portfolio: anthonyfalvo.com
Ladies and gentlemen, MC is honored to present the portfolio sites of seven Summer 2013 Creative Circus graduating copywriters (in alphabetical order):
Keith Atzman – keithatzman.com
Caroline Cappelli – carolinecappelli.com
Scott Chalkley – scottchalkley.com
John Huddleston – justanotherjohn.com
Jameson Rossi – jamesonrossi.com
Lauren Wood – laurenwoodwrites.com
Gretchen Zachan – gretchenzachan.com
Dan is a freelance copywriter in NYC. Over the past two+ years, he’s spent time at shops like Ogilvy, 360i, Digitas, and Iris, has worked on a wide range of brands—including lots of cool social projects.
Portfolio: krop.com/danacasuso
André is a copywriter at Y&R Perú. Since his first post on MC in August 2011, he’s got a shiny new Cargo site and a whole bunch of new work on it. Definitely time for an update.
Portfolio: cargocollective.com/andretoledo
Jeffrey is a copywriter at The Richards Group in Dallas. He’s got a nice variety of clients and media on his site, including tons of work for Dodge Ram and GameStop. When you’ve got print, video and digital to show, does anything work better/simpler/faster than Cargo + Vimeo? If so, MC hasn’t seen it.
Portfolio: cargocollective.com/jeffreyhodgson
Jenny is a freelance writer in South Carolina. So … when you click through a portfolio site, it’s all about the work, right? Then, if you like the work, you call and see if you like the writer. Sometimes though, you click through a portfolio site and read what the writer’s written, about their work, about their creative partners and clients, about collaboration, and you already know: this is a nice person. I could work with this person. That’s the vibe MC gets from Jenny’s site. She obviously loves what she does (web sites to wine labels) and who she does it with. That’s awesome.
Portfolio: jennybadman.com/portfolio
Bevan is a copywriter at Woods Witt Dealy & Sons in NYC. Her site is Cargo, in a template of scrolling columns that looks pretty rad on MC’s MacBook. In addition to writing, Bevan has performed at Upright Citizens Brigade and freelanced for Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live—proving once again that comedians make fantastic copywriters. Don’t miss the SNL Weekend Update jokes on her site. Here’s one to whet your appetite: It was reported this week that John Mellencamp and Meg Ryan have been “quietly dating” for about seven weeks. They also added that the two have been “quietly dying” for at least seven years.
Portfolio: bevanmahaney.com
Charlie is a freelance copywriter/CD in Los Angeles. As a full-time freelancer, he’s added a couple of little extras to his site that are pretty key. Check out this Testimonials link. He’s got 10+ quotes, not too long, super easy to nav, that say a lot about him. His contact info (phone and email) are right up top, in a universal header. And his About Us page is no-nonsense, just the facts. A very clean, well-organized, hard-working site. Nice.
Portfolio: charlienoback.com
Kashyap is a copywriter/ACD at DDB Mudragroup in Bombay, India. MC’s first from Bombay. Seeing as how India is the world’s second most populous country, MC is hoping to quadruple its Twitter following after this post. Namasté!
Portfolio: cargocollective.com/kashyap
Grant is a copywriter in St. Paul, MN. He graduated in May and is currently leading up his own small creative studio called LESS Co. (http://theless.co). Love the ambition, right out of the gate.
Portfolio: grantdoeswork.com
Erin is a copywriter in San Francisco, one year after graduating from Miami Ad School. So fun to see a CW’s book at this stage, part student spec and part produced. Can’t wait to see where she lands next.
Portfolio: erinsmithwastaken.com
Peter is a copywriter at Arnold Boston. (Graduated from BU in 2010.) Awesome to see what he’s been able to produce at Arnold in only two years—for clients like Jack Daniel’s, Progressive, and American Eagle (love the spray-on jeans campaign). Big ups!
Portfolio: petermhughes.com