A brief history
I was born in Switzerland and grew up in Houston, which is widely considered to be the Geneva of the west.
My first ad was a jingle I wrote in the 3rd grade to the Beverly Hillbillies tune for a pretend dog food called "Low in Fat." In it, I rhymed dog with hog.
In 1990, I moved to NYC, where I wrote enough Burger King radio spots to flame-broil my brain. I’ve loved writing radio ever since, though I think I’ve had enough Whoppers to last a lifetime.
At Grey, I wrote a slew of commercials for Parker Brothers and Hasbro. No budget? No problem. That’s why they invented Toronto and Vancouver.
I learned that commercials can cost as much as movies at BBDO. I supervised the HBO account, while we also did work for such giants as Visa, Pizza Hut, Pepsi and FedEx. When your target market is every living person on earth, you learn to keep it simple.
After a little freelance and a harrowing cross-country drive in my U-Haul, I ended up at Young and Rubicam in San Francisco. Finally, I had a chance to focus on print.
At Arc (formerly Frankel), I concentrated on those other important aspects of the marketing puzzle. From online to direct to event marketing to promotions. Even though I started out as a ’TV guy,’ I really enjoy the challenge of integrating a campaign into something greater than the individual parts.
This serves me well today, as I work at a truly integrated agency: Swirl. The specific accounts I run are eBay, eBay Motors, Lennar, San Francisco Giants, Oakland Raiders, Trumer Pils, Chabot Space & Science Center, and Cisco, but I am often a creative lead on our other clients, such as PG&E, Jamba Juice and Panda Express. Integrated marketing is more than a catch phrase here; in one month’s time I have produced a TV commercial, radio, a microsite, DM, a trade show booth, rich media banners and a print campaign. I love that great ideas aren’t limited by media.
Besides advertising, I’ve enjoyed performing improv for over fifteen years in various troupes in New York and San Francisco. I’ve also written for both the small and big screen and costarred in my most recent short film.