Tag: Advertising

There’s this fallacy among marketers that, even if it’s working, an ad should only be run for a couple of months before audiences will get sick of it.

I worked for a mobile tech start up in San Diego in the early 2000s. This had some rockstar founders and was supposed to be a huge thing. I was part of their round one of hires.

I said something in a fit of frustration that’s been rolling around in my mind ever since: DEI was made for us, but it's killing us.

I had been a copywriter in advertising for about three years by then, which was just long enough to know I didn’t belong in that room. 

By all conventional measures, I was highly successful..but by 2004, I was struggling with addiction to alcohol.

That job, getting fired, and eighteen months of failing to overcome mediocre work set me and my career back.

This was our first project for a huge household brand. I saw our hard work closing the deal, and my financial projections disappear in front of my eyes.

If you work in marketing or advertising, you're surrounded by opinions. Some people don't like green in their logo. Some people don't like sentences beginning with "And" or "But."

This distorted view made me believe I needed to be successful by 21. Which lead to me taking bigger risks and making a lot of mistakes.

Biggest fuck up? Over the last 15 years, there’s been plenty of moments that – at the time – looked like Mr Fuck Up had...

Slow down, you're going to have a very long life, and you will work till you are at least 70. You don't have to work full pelt for nearly fifty years.

I was lucky to have a client who was both forgiving, and receptive. I learned from this experience to never ever badmouth or underestimate a client.