Peanut butter and jelly. Puppies and babies. Whiskey and bottom desk drawers. And now, San Francisco copywriter Chris Elzinga has taken it upon himself to combine two more things that are made for each other: impressionist paintings and gimps. This is real. These paintings are selling.
Ryan is a senior copywriter in San Francisco, previously at McCann and GSP (as an account guy). His site is based on a stack of paper. In his words, “One day I started cleaning out my files because they were moving us. So I started to stack up all my old briefs, dead ads, scripts, etc. into a neat little 8.5×11 pile. By the time I cleared out two years of shit, the stack was about three feet high. It looked too interesting to throw it away, so I taped it up. It became an art piece as a joke. I found a stand and put a $3000 price tag on it. I held a contest for names: “Dead Weight,” “Tower of Futility,” and the overly pretentious “Work” are some of my favorites. I settled on “The Other 96%” because it represents all the bullshit we have to go through to make something that shouldn’t be as hard as it really is. Later I realized some of the better things I’ve done aren’t (theoretically) in the stack, so I turned the it into a site idea. And I suppose, in some way, made use of all the good n’ bad things in the pile that never came to be.” Love it.
Portfolio: ryanhartsfield.com
Ian is a senior copywriter at TracyLocke in NYC. He graduated from Syracuse in 2008, and already has a portfolio stocked with SoBe, Wisk, Gold Bond … and JWed.com, a dating site for Jewish singles. Tag: “Find your chosen one.”
Portfolio: ianwishingrad.com
Gerard is a senior copywriter at WONGDOODY in Los Angeles. People sometimes ask MC, “What’s the right amount of set-up for projects in a portfolio?” Such a hard question to answer because every project is different, right? Right. But, if you had to point to an example of a portfolio with just the right set-up, content and tone, Gerard’s would be an excellent choice.
Portfolio: gerardseifert.com
Vlad is a freelance art director in NYC, most recently at W+K. Killer site and portfolio. Big ideas all over the place. After checking out Work, click on Other Stuff I Made. It just keeps going. Which makes it 100% worthy of an MC Honorary post (and then some).
Portfolio: vladislav-ivangorodsky.com
Jean is a Miami Ad School grad and a new copywriter at Evolution Bureau in San Francisco. What a fun book she got out of MAS. Long copy (Canon), tequila app (Cuervo), beautiful art direction (Cowgirl), cool product ideas (Avis + Celestial), and nakedness (Maxim). Good times.
Portfolio: cargocollective.com/jeanmorrow
Ryan is a copywriter/ACD at GSD&M in Austin. Clients on his site: BMW, The Discovery Channel, Kohler, Southwest Airlines, Spyder, and Habitat for Humanity. Would you like a drink with your Client Envy, sir? Yes, thank you very much.
Portfolio: ryaninpixels.com
Kevin is a senior copywriter at JWT in NYC. What a fun mix of clients in his book: Olympics, Jones Soda, Nike, Napa Valley Vineyards, Seattle Art Museum, Mud Truck, and the resurrection of the one-and-only Raaaaanieeeeerrrrrrr Beeeeeerrrrr.
Portfolio: kevin-thomson.com
Tom is a copywriter in Georgia, previously at Mullen. What a fun portfolio, right down to the URL. Awesome stories all over the place. Copywriters come from every walk of life, and that’s cool. But there’s something to be said for a background/degree in writing/journalism.
Portfolio: alongwayforahamsandwich.com
Rob is a copywriter/CD in NYC. There are fewer and fewer portfolio sites that feel like someone made them from scratch. Rob’s site is one of the few, and it’s just awesome.
Portfolio: robrooney.com
Craig is a copywriter at Berlin Cameron United in NYC. Only two years in the biz, and his portfolio already has a bunch of really fun TV for Comcast, Amazon.com and Super 8 Hotels. Nice. Or as he would say, “Puh-pow!!”
Portfolio: craigalshin.com
Craig is a senior copywriter in NYC. Check out his portfolio then check out his site 99dollartaglines.com. Now that’s how you take your copywriting skills and make a small biz. Rather than, say, making a blog about other copywriters’ portfolio sites with no hope of monetization whatsoever. (Ahem.) Nice.
Portfolio: csgeller.carbonmade.com
