Hi. I’m Mark. I’m a Freelance Copywriter/Creative Director/Executive Creative Director.
Those —> are my pets. Will get to them in a second.
I’ve worked at big, global creative shops; smaller boutiques (including my own); and brand-side/in-house. I’ve worn all the so-called hats in most of the places.
Starting as a wee junior in the ‘90’s at Arnold/Boston, my work has been honored by Cannes, CLIO, One Show, Kelly Awards, Effies, Communication Arts, National ADDYs & more shows that are nice, but honestly don’t matter as much as concepting, leading, inspiring, mentoring, executing, laughing, enjoying (yes, enjoying advertising, go figure!)
Along with three separate “boomerang” stints at Arnold—hopefully the power of being a generally nice, hardworking human—I’ve also worked at Crispin Porter + Bogusky (twice); J. Walter Thompson/Atlanta; co-founded my own boutique agency here in Boulder (Grenadier, now Barkley); and my creative partner, Paul Renner, and I——a.k.a. SaintPaul—spent two years contract/in-house at DraftKings.
I’ve pitched/won/helped lead/worked on giant brands like ESPN, Microsoft, and McDonald’s…smaller (but no less challenging) ones like Winter Park Ski Resort, Otterbox, and Goose Island Beer Company…and everything in between.
As obsessive a sports fan as branding geek, I’ve also written two best-selling sports memoirs published by Simon & Schuster: COMMITTED: CONFESSIONS OF A FANTASY FOOTBALL JUNKIE (which prompted none other than Chuck Klosterman to call me “the smartest man who’s ever lived”…facetiously) and JUST KICK IT: TALES OF AN UNDERDOG, OVER-AGE, OUT-OF-PLACE SEMI-PRO FOOTBALL PLAYER (called “one of the best sports books of the year” in coveted Booklist starred review).
I’ve also contributed to the New York Times Sports, New York Times.com "Fifth Down" NFL blog, NBC Sports, MUSE by Clio, CLIO Sports, and others. And I’ve appeared on national TV /radio shows like NPR's "Only a Game with Bill Littlefield," ESPN Classic, Sirius XM Radio, FOX Sports Radio and more. I was a 2020 CLIO Sports Awards juror. So yeah, SPORTS!
Bottom line: I can be a solo writer/CD/ECD. Player. Coach. Player-coach. Paul and I can do the team thing. Freelance. Perma-lance. Full-time. Lance-full. Whatever you need. No job above me, no job below me. That’s kinda my mantra.
After spending most of my life in Boston, I’ve been in Boulder for the past 14 years with my wife, two teenage kids, and those two pets. Aren't they adorable up there? If you don't hire/pay me, they starve. No pressure.
