Where to begin...
First off I am not Captain Highliner, contrary to the similar appearance (His jawline is far more enviable).
My grey hair was gotten from the more than 25 years that I have been honing my craft of art direction, while developing my skills in leadership and client management.
I have had the pleasure of working at agencies of various sizes, from multinationals all the way down to an agency of just 7 people. With all these experiences I have learned that no matter the size of agency there always needs to be an entrepreneurial mindset.
Along the way I have worked with a broad spectrum of clients, from packaged goods, financial services, tech, automotive, retailers, and telecom, to name a few. And with each of these clients I have tried to foster a good client-agency relationship in order to get us to the best work possible.
While I do think winning awards is an important part of being a creative, creating work that works for clients is the reason we do what we do. We need to help clients solve real business problems using creativity as our weapon.
And as the old adage says, if you aren't growing, you're dying. Agencies are, first and foremost, businesses – and businesses need to grow. I enjoy the pitch process, approaching it with fresh, holistic thinking, hard work, and Red Bull. Most notably I have been a part of teams that have won the Smirnoff, Wind Mobile, and Destination Canada accounts. I also helped develop work that lead to the consolidation of the entire McDonald's Canada business at one agency for the first time. And most recently have lead and grown the Sobeys account from a single project to being the AOR.
I have been fortunate enough to have work that has been recognized by the majority of award shows from around the globe. But having a mug that’s says world’s greatest dad might be my greatest accomplishment (although I don’t drink coffee).