Susie is a copywriter/CD in Chicago. She spent 17 years at DDB, during which she took a four year detour from copywriting and was their Director of Creative Recruiting (2007-2011). Now she’s back (freelance) and ready to write.
Portfolio: susiesteinberg.com
Justin is a copywriter at GSD&M in Austin (two years), after graduating from Miami Ad School in 2010. So cool to see what he’s done at GSD&M (awesome shop) during that time—including Meet The Aces, a campaign that puts Ace Hardware right next door.
Portfolio: cargocollective.com/justinmiller
Ladies and gentlemen, MC proudly presents the portfolio sites of 17 Chicago Portfolio School 2013 copywriter grads (in alphabetical order):
Amy Bauer – amybauer.com
Brittany Hughes – britthughes.com
Chelsea Berger – chelseaberger.com
Garrett Vernon – garrettvernon.com
Hassan S. Ali – cargocollective.com/hassansali
Jackie Suerth – jackiesuerth.com
Jennifer Smith – jenmadeabook.com
John Olson – sonofol.com
Julia Weeman – juliaweeman.com
Kat Ponting – katponting.com
Kelsey Alfredson – cargocollective.com/KelseyAlfredson
Lauren Fodero – laurenfodero.com
Leighanne Steckbeck – leighanimal.com
Matt Bush – stoutredbeard.com
Michelle Grano – michellegrano.com
Pat Whalen – patwhalen.com
Tom Katers – tomkaters.com
From Leighanne’s What’s A Leighanimal? page, under the heading What I Learned At Portfolio School: “Big ideas are king. Which means puns are either peasants or serfs. How to explain to outsiders that copywriting has nothing to do with being a lawyer. The stranger your idea the better; your partner is always there to reel you back in. Or to tell you to stop talking. I can’t help but play devil’s advocate while brainstorming, which is a blessing but often feels like a curse. Celebrity endorsed ads are mostly crap (with the exception of Nicolas Cage).” Amen.
Portfolio: leighanimal.com
Sometimes you see a big-ass banner in some kid’s portfolio and you’re just like, “Yes. I want to see you knock that sucker down, cable channel for men in their 20s. Hells yeah.” And there’s no reason to be embarrassed about that. Because who wouldn’t?
Portfolio: sonofol.com
CPS Week 2013 kicks off with Ms. Amy Bauer. MC digs: destroyed Barbie® for roller derby, Parker Pens “Your hair shines like those halogen lights that some cars have” (funny), French’s mustard foul pole line, and Roomba Zamboni. Good times.
Portfolio: amybauer.com
Tom is a copywriter/ACD at Factory Labs in Denver. All kinds of inspiring work for athletics brands on his site: The North Face, Oakley, Callaway, Killington Mountain Resort (“The Beast” above), and Gatorade. Almost enough to make MC want to go for a run. Almost.
Portfolio: cargocollective.com/tomgoodrich
Trey is a senior copywriter at Fuse in Los Angeles. The first four projects on his site are for Kawasaki, and they include TV, print, interactive, and a manifesto vid. What’s more fun, as a copywriter, than writing a company’s manifesto vid? Especially when the company makes motorcycles? So fun.
Portfolio: cargocollective.com/hova
Ladies and gentlemen, MC is honored to present the portfolio sites of the 2013 VCU Brandcenter graduating copywriters (in alphabetical order):
Adam Tetreault: adamdtetreault.com
Andrew Kong: andrewckong.com
Atain Ibia: atain.me
Chris Martin: notthatchrismartin.com
Christina Semak: christinasemak.com
Daniel Chen: thedanielchen.com
Don Principe: thedonprincipe.com
Evelynne Scholnick: evelynnes.com
Faye Ibars: fayeibars.com
Gary Baker: andthenithought.com
Ian Downey: upsidedowney.com
Kai Neddersen: kaineddersen.com
Katlyn Williams: katlynwilliams.com
Maddison Bradley: maddisonbradley.com
Mary Gross: maryfgross.com
Matt Meszaros: mattmeszaros.com
Matt Skibiak: mattskibiak.com
Megan Winterhalter: meganwinterhalter.com
Michelle Lamont: michellelamont.com
Taylor Schumaker: taylorschumaker.com
Zac Milner: zacmilner.com
So hard to pick which VCU CW grad portfolios to feature during VCU Brandcenter Week! They’ve all got something special about them. Don’t miss Andrew’s Botot radio (the world’s first toothpaste, created for King Louis XV, who knew?), and Shun Cutlery campaign (Honor Haiku, funny). Nice to see some creativity in brand/client selection. Good times.
Portfolio: andrewckong.com
VCU Brandcenter Week Tuesday: Mr. Daniel Chen. Lots of fun writing all over his site, including a type solution campaign for Wonderbra (not kidding) and Sad Children’s Projects, which really is one of the saddest things MC has ever seen in a portfolio. Macaroni WE CAN’T AFFORD THIS and homemade 3RD FAVORITE SON medal. Yes.
Portfolio: thedanielchen.com
VCU Brandcenter Week! Love it. And Kai is a perfect start to the week. He was an intern copywriter at inHouse, Target’s fabulous internal creative department, back in 2010, when MC was a Creative Manager there. Kai could have probably gone right from that internship into a job, but instead decided that he wanted to learn more. He didn’t just want a good first job, he wanted a great first job, and he recognized that what he needed to get it was, well, VCU. Now, couple of years later, here he is, graduating from VCU, and that’s crazy awesome. Congrats, Kai!
Portfolio: kaineddersen.com
Dave is a freelance copywriter/CD in Nashville (Nashville Addy’s “2012 Copywriter of the Year”), previously at BBDO and Hill Holiday. Lots of beautiful writing all over his site for clients like LandTrust of Tennessee, United Methodist Church, and Boys & Girls Club of Boston.
Portfolio: davewordsmith.com
Rich is a copywriter in Boston, formerly at Arnold. Actually, he was recently let go by Arnold, which would be a bummer for anyone. However, Rich took the opportunity to write his colleagues a good-bye email that is, in his words, “at least as good as any of the other stuff I wrote while I was there.” Check out his email on AgencySpy here. Or check out his other stuff by clicking on the link below.
Portfolio: richtseng.com
Hall is a copywriter in Denver, previously at Factory Labs, now looking for his next gig. His link was featured on MC in Summer 2012 as part of Creative Circus CW Grad Week. So cool to see what he’s added since then.
Portfolio: hallcarey.com
Greg is a copywriter in Salt Lake City, currently at MRM/McCann. He’s got a shiny new Carbonmade site and a bunch of fun writing all over it, from brand identity manifesto to words on the side of a beer can. Got to take advantage of every opportunity, because you never know what’s going to hit. Dig it.
Portfolio: cargocollective.com/gregfoster
Todd is a copywriter in Minneapolis, previously at digital agency space150 (for six years). Definitely got the digital chops. But he’s also a wordsmith—with years of proofreading experience before becoming a copywriter, and a degree in English Lit. Love that.
Portfolio: toddlintner.carbonmade.com
Helena is a new copywriter in NYC, having recently graduated from Miami Ad School in March. (Site submitted by Dhruv Nanda, big ups.) Being a great copywriter means coming up with great ideas. Check out Helena’s app Safe & Sound, which tells you the safest walking route home according to crime reports, open stores and people’s reviews. Why doesn’t that exist already? Or her Radiohead Lights app, which gives concertgoers access to other concertgoers’ smartphone video, so everyone can edit multi-camera music videos. Yes, please.
Portfolio: helenaheras.com
James is a copywriter at BMF Sydney. His site URL is awoooooga.com and, as you can probably guess, there’s a ton of humor all over it. Lots of personal projects mixed in with ad work, which is cool. Love his stunt for Polycell.
Portfolio: awoooooga.com
Aaron is a copywriter at Draftfcb in Chicago. His portfolio is half produced work, half student, all fun. Check out Motorola (above) and American Greetings for Draft, and Winnebago and Nair from his U of Texas days. Also, don’t miss his write-up, “Boys, indeed.” Dig it.
Portfolio: menwillbeboys.me
Cole is a copywriter at Plan B in Chicago. His portfolio site is all words. (Brilliant.) Instead of thumbnails, you nav through big words. MC loves that. MC is totally geeking out on that, but it’s ok because that’s what CWs do with words. Big ups, Cole.
Portfolio: coleorloff.com
Rod is a copywriter/CD in Louisville who’s been doing the contract/freelance thing for awhile now. It’s interesting to see how permalancers market themselves through their portfolio sites—the difference between selling your skills to land clients/projects versus landing a job. The work is the work, but how it’s presented is so different.
Portfolio: callmegoody.com
Brad is a copywriter/Global CD for Accenture at TBWA Chiat/Day NYC. His resume is sick: Chiat, W+K, GS+P, BBDO, 180. His site is loaded with big campaigns for monster clients like Pepsi, GE, Adidas, Old Navy, and includes a couple of classics for Got Milk? and Airwalk. Good times.
Portfolio: bradroseberry.com
Howard is a senior CW in Los Angeles. Since his last post on MC (03.28.11) he’s updated from Krop to Cargo and added some killer new work, including pieces for Sony’s Xperia Studio and Americans Elect. About the latter, from Howard: “We tried to use the internet to nominate a president. That one didn’t work out but it was worth a shot because someone’s going to do it eventually.”
Portfolio: howardhillcreative.com
Derek is a San Francisco copywriter currently at Proximity BBDO Beijing. Lots of killer stuff in his book, including an awesome campaign for Volkswagen in China. MC is way into infographics right now—love the 3D interactive VW infographic (above). Good times.
Portfolio: cargocollective.com/derekdidit
G. Andrew is a copywriter/EVP/ECD at Leo Burnett Chicago. As you can probably guess by the title, his site is loaded with killer work—for clients like Altoids, Corona, Samsung, and Starbucks. His stuff for Altoids could be a dynamite portfolio all by itself. Love it love it love it.
Portfolio: gandrewmeyer.com
Scott is a copywriter/ACD at STIR in Milwaukee. Since his last post on MC (9/21/10), he’s put together a new site with all kinds of new work for clients like Cousin’s Subs, Milwaukee Riverkeeper, and Agnesian Healthcare. Check out his campaign for the Wisconsin State Fair, which includes a video featuring Bacon Boy, a talking pig doll, hunting for a Fair date (woman, not sow).
Portfolio: scott-shalles.com
James is a junior copywriter/visual artist in Austin looking for his first CW gig. He went to school in L.A. for TV Production/New Media/Advertising at Mike Curb College of Arts, Media and Communication. Then studied copywriting and interactive at The Book Shop. Clicking through this site, it’s 90% visual arts and 10% copywriting. Thing is, so many shops/companies are looking to add in-house video capability, someone out there might think that’s just fine.
Portfolio: jamesschmidtke.com
Alex is a copywriter in San Francisco. In an age of conceptual CWs, its such a pleasure to click through a writer’s site and find a bunch of fun headlines. Yahoo! Grudge Judge, Twisted Root, 7-Eleven Las Vegas Billboards, dig ’em.
Portfolio: alexharv.com
Chelsea is a junior copywriter at Tribal DDB in NYC and a stand-up comedian. (Once again proving MC’s theory that comedians and drummers make the best copywriters.) Don’t miss her video for Docracy: “What It Feels Like To Be A Freelancer.” Word.
Portfolio: cargocollective.com/chelseadavison