THOSE GUYS ARE GREAT

It’s not really bragging. It’s just something we overhear all the time. Whether it’s on a set, at a global planning week with agency partners, or occasionally even from the people who work for us.

We’re a couple of guys who came to advertising in pretty unconventional ways. And before we did, each of us spent years out there in the world gaining some pretty crazy experience. Rock band front man. Stand-up comic. T-shirt artist. Pawn shop clerk. Shark wrangler. PR hack. Pizza tosser. Morning radio guy. Shitty bartender.

And all of it informs how we approach creative problem-solving. We don’t take ourselves too seriously. But we do take our work seriously.

In advertising, you mostly don’t get to see how people react to your work. Except for YouTube commenters calling for your death. But a big part of our success as creatives comes from the many years we both spent on stages in front of live audiences. There’s no hiding from the way people feel about how you think. So you learn to reach them in unique ways.

We’ve been creative partners for fifteen years and can’t even begin to count the number of commercials, print and banner ads, and yeah – sizzle reels – we’ve made together on this major automotive account. And they've been effective.

Over the course of our careers, we’ve gotten to work with lots of celebrities and huge names in our industry. We could name drop, but we choose to hope that they’d all say they liked working with us.

What Steve says about Dave

Dave is great. Our relationship began on rocky ground when he secretly nicknamed me “Bing” – as in Chandler – because when I joined the team, I was changing careers to get into advertising. Fortunately, I wasn't much of a Friends fan and barely got the joke. Then irony and fate saw to it that we were thrown in together as partners. I’m tremendously thankful for that. He’s an amazingly talented dude with unparalleled experience who helps me elevate my ideas and craft my thoughts. Together, we've created some very successful campaigns and broken new ground in advertising, which is pretty tough to do. Even though he’s not a “writer” in the sense that our business defines them, he’s a gifted, driven and sincere songwriter and singer. He's got the CDs to prove it, too. He’s also a guy who comes up with “the line” just as often as I do. I love that Dave is a frequent co-conspirator in our impromptu comedy skits and freestyle song parodies that keep stressful days from becoming crime scenes. Sure, we fight and curse at each other over stupid stuff just like all passionate, strong-minded couples who’ve been together this long. But he’s a true partner in every sense of the word. And at the end of each day, I go home saying, “Love you, man.”

What Dave says about Steve

Steve is great. Our relationship began when Steve walked in to my office many years ago wearing a suit and tie to interview for a job that only requires wearing a T-shirt, jeans and sneakers. I quickly learned that Steve's sharp wit, extraordinary sense of humor and unmatched intelligence totally outweighed his fashion choices. Not only did I learn that he was a stand-up comedian, but Steve was taking college courses when he was 12. Our humor made us fast friends and our creativity made us an even faster success within the agency. On top of being a fantastic writer, Steve is also an amazing fine artist. He's sold way more of his works of art than I ever have, and I even went to art school. There is no one I respect more in this business, mainly because Steve might be the smartest person I've ever met. He's literally made client lawyers backpedal by out-lawyering them at their own game. It's a sight to see. But more importantly Steve is my friend and there is no one on earth I would rather head in to creative battle with, because I know I have the smartest person in the room on my team... and Steve.