Category Archives: Richmond

VCU Brandcenter Week – Class of 2018

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Big ups to VCU Brandcenter Director of Student Affairs and Industry Outreach, Ashley Sommardahl, for once again helping MC host VCU Brandcenter Week. And big, big ups to all of the VCU grads who will be running the ad biz soon enough. Do great work. Be kind to each other. Make the world a better place.

You can check out the portfolios of the entire VCU Brandcenter 2018 class, including copywriters, art directors, creative brand management, experience design, and strategy, on the VCU Brandcenter site here. Can’t wait to see where they land!

VCU Brandcenter Week – Brianna Gross

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Brianna is a new copywriter and a recent VCU grad. One of the great things about student campaigns is that you get to take an idea and run with it. And run and run and run and run with it. Who’s going to stop you? Nobody. In the case of Brianna’s “Pull This” campaign for Kraft String Cheese, she went from print to OOH to digital to in-store to vending machine to a String Cheese Festival in Pullman, WA, headlined by the String Cheese Incident. Because why the heck not.

Portfolio: briannagross.com

VCU Brandcenter Week – Allison Rinaldi

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Allison is a new art director and a recent VCU grad. At the time of this post, she’s got six spec projects and two produced projects on her site (don’t be fooled just because the produced ones are last, they’re just as good as the spec). Dig her creepy eye “Get Impossibly Close” campaign for Bushnell, and her “Sick Burns Candles” product development idea (so mean), which both have just the right amount of edge. Also dig her Unite by Kotex App. How have they not made that yet?

Portfolio: allisonrinaldi.com

VCU Brandcenter Week – Lynn Nakamura

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Lynn is a new art director and a recent VCU grad. She’s got so many different looks in her portfolio, but all of them have the coolest vibe: Venmo (above), Mütter Museum, Sector 9, That’s What She Said, Little Tikes, Wonder Bread, and Olympics. Also, don’t miss her magazine “Skinny Dipper” in Not Work. So cool.

Portfolio: lynnlnakamura.com

James Moffitt

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James is a copywriter/content strategist at Release The Hounds, and he teaches at VCU’s Robertson School of Media and Culture. Since his last post on MC (12.16.15), he’s got the new gig at RTH and posted a bunch of killer new projects to his site, including PatiYogi for Eagle Bay Pavers (above) and The SoundView Project, which aims to create awareness about the importance of music education in schools. Time for an update!

Portfolio: jamesmoffitt.carbonmade.com

VCU Brandcenter Week 2017

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For everyone not able to attend VCU’s recruiter sessions this week (over 200 attending), MC is honored to present the portfolio sites of 26 graduating art directors and 25 copywriters (in alphabetical order). Congrats to all!

 

COPYWRITERS

Maddy Baldwin (copywriter) – maddybaldwin.com

Will Bareford (copywriter) – willbareford.com

Elizabeth Bassett (copywriter) – elizabethbassett.com

Kelly Cabaniss (copywriter) – kellycab.com

Mike Cardamone (copywriter) – mecardamone.com

Samuel Case (copywriter) – samcase.net

Dennis Chen (copywriter) – denniskchen.com

Tom Daley (copywriter) – tomdaleyhere.com

Kevin David (copywriter) – kmdavid.com

Kaitlin DeMayo (copywriter) – kaitlindemayo.com

Jeff Dunn (copywriter) – jeffdunncw.com

Caroline Gallalee (copywriter) – carolinegallalee.com

James Gross (copywriter) – jamesisgross.com

Lizzy Hopkinson (copywriter) – lizzyhopkinson.com

Chris Kessler (copywriter) – iamchriskessler.com

Matt Klugman (copywriter) – mattklugman.com

Conor McFarland (copywriter) – conormcfarland.com

Jessica New (copywriter) – jessicanew.com

Matt Neylon (copywriter) – matt-neylon.com

Tim Shumar (copywriter) – timshumar.com

Jeff B. Tune (copywriter) – jeffbtune.com

Matthew Waronker (copywriter) – mattwaronker.com

Dean Weber (copywriter) – dean-weber.com

Rich Whelchel (copywriter) – richwhelchel.com

Jenny Yoon (copywriter) – jennifermiayoon.com

 

ART DIRECTORS

Majic Aubert (art director) – majicaubert.com

Tony Avila (art director) – amavila.com

Jake Broglio (art director) – jake-broglio.com

Gianna D’Amico (art director) – giannadamico.com

Raven Delisle (art director) – raivenad.com

Elliot Eliash (art director) – ellioteliash.com

Frank Garguilo (art director) – frankgarguilo.com

Josh Gherghel (art director) – joshgg.com

Jason Goldberg (art director) – jasongoldberg.co

Beth Hughes (art director) – jelizabethhughes.com

Samantha Jolley (art director) – samanthajolley.com

Andrew Jones (art director) – andrewcj.com

Jessica Kemmerling (art director) – jessiekemmerling.com

Maria Kouninski (art director) – mariakouninski.com

Steph Langan (art director) – stephlangan.com

Chris Lumain (art director) – chrislumain.com

Alex McClelland (art director) – alexgmcclelland.com

Jasmine McCrae (art director) – jasminelmccrae.com

Héctor Rivas (art director) – hector.works

Wesley Ruff (art director) – wesleyruff.cool

Jessica Sugerman (art director) – jessicasugerman.com

Ken Tsuchiya (art director) – kentsuchiya.com

John Worthington (art director) – jkworthington.com

Liwen Xu (art director) – liwenxu.com

Jansen Yoder (art director) – jansenyoder.com

Holly Younce (art director) – hollyyounce.com

VCU Brandcenter Week – Alex McClelland

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Alex is a brand new art director fresh out of VCU. When a CD hires a new creative, one of the first things they often say is some version of: “Scare me! Don’t hold back. We can always reel you back in—but out of the gate, just go for it.” Ok, so Alex’s Peeps project is just flat-out scary (above). So is her creepy eyeball homepage. And Gollum Girl illustrations. (PS, don’t miss her Illustrations page. So cool.) Love it all.

Portfolio: alexgmcclelland.com

VCU Brandcenter Week – Caroline Gallalee

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VCU Brandcenter Week on MC (yay!) kicks off with copywriter Caroline Gallalee. Being a copywriter is all about ideas and prose and collaboration and humor and fearlessness—but it’s also about enthusiasm and optimism and putting yourself the heck out there. Clicking through Caroline’s portfolio, she’s everywhere: rapping for MadMoms (awesome project), narrating a manifesto video for Tetra “Aquaverse,” and interviewing Kim Kardashian (awkward). Love it all.

Portfolio: carolinegallalee.com

Bob Meagher

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Bob is a freelance copywriter/CD in Richmond, VA, previously at the Martin Agency (for 28 years). Honored to have him up on MC! So many amazing projects on his site. Few things not to miss: the buzz clips reel at the end of the Geico “Good News” project page, Peter Frampton introducing Bob’s reel on his About page, and Kozy Shack Pudding “World’s Worst Jingle” on his radio page. So bad. So good.

Portfolio: bobmeagher.com

Ryan Durr

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Ryan is a freelance copywriter/ACD in Richmond, VA (and ready to travel). Since his last post on MC, way back on 05.07.12, he moved from Pereira & O’Dell to Innocean to Martin to freelance—and added a bunch of killer work to his portfolio along the way. Like selling lemonade with Ice-T for Geico (above). Definitely time for an update.

Portfolio: durrtywords.com

VCU Brandcenter Week 2016

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For everyone not able to attend VCU’s recruiter sessions this week, MC is honored to present the portfolio sites of 20 VCU Brandcenter graduating copywriters (in alphabetical order):

Devin Altman – devin-altman.com

Larissa Cole – larissacole.com

Charlie Curnow – charliecurnow.com

Scott Dobbin – scottdobbin.com

Kevin Fitz – kevinbfitz.com

Emily Hovis – emilyhovis.com

Scott Lucien – scottlucien.com

Scott Minniear – scottminniear.com

Patrick Newman – patrickhnewman.com

Jon Northrop – jonnorthrop.com

Sean O’Connor – seanboconnor.com

Jacob Pankey – pankeydotgov.com

Prit Patel – pritpatelfanclub.com

Stephen Shocket – stephenshocket.com

Michelle Smith – michellelottsmith.com

Mike Stango – mikestango.com

Katie Tiambeng – katietiambeng.com

Ray Tolbert – raytolbert.com

Sarah Westerfield – sarahwesterfield.com

Grace Xie – gracexie.com

VCU Brandcenter Week – Michelle Smith

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VCU Brandcenter Week on MC continues with Michelle Smith. Every once in a while, you see something so brilliant in a portfolio that it stops you in your tracks. Michelle’s Slim Jim car visor meat clips are in that category. They’re the perfect combination of cheap tchotchke, useful everyday tool, in-your-face branding—and they’re just so Slim Jim. Delish.

Portfolio: michellelottsmith.com

VCU Brandcenter Week – Stephen Shocket

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VCU Brandcenter Week on MC kicks off with Stephen Socket. As usual, MC is blown away by the CW books coming out of VCU—and Stephen’s is a great example of why. He’s got four ad campaigns for Megabus, Timex, Michaels, and Playstation VR. He’s also got a digital magazine and video about ham (above, Ham Manual), an animated short film (that he animated), a product (bottled coffee), and a kids book “Why Is Everyone Murdering Me?” And that doesn’t include his Other Projects page. How do you get better? You make stuff make stuff make stuff.

Portfolio: stephenshocket.com

James Moffitt

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James is a copywriter at Capital One in Richmond, VA, and a graduate of VCU. While he’s new to copywriting, he’s not new to writing and has an interesting portfolio to show for it. Biking to messenger bags, outdoor gear to Sink/Swim Press, there’s a super cool/alternative POV that runs through his site and his projects. Love to see someone doing it different.

Portfolio: jamesmoffitt.carbonmade.com

VCU Brandcenter Week 2015

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For everyone not able to attend VCU’s recruiter sessions this week, MC is honored to present the portfolio sites of 24 VCU Brandcenter copywriters graduating May 9th, 2015 (in alphabetical order):

Sue Attalah – sueattalah.com

Richard Beahm – richardbeahm.com

Curt Chapkowski – curtchapkowski.com

Andrew Couch – johnandrewcouch.com

Elizabeth Daniel – elizabethdaniel.info

Emma Dou – emmadou.com

Patrick Farrell – patrickbfarrell.com

James Feess – jamesfeess.com

Nick Gelbard – nickgelbard.com

Patrick Girts – patrickgirts.com

Joe Hartley – joehartley.pizza

Andy Holdeman – andymightsave.us

Sarah Johnston – sarahejohnston.com

Melanie Matlock – melaniematlock.com

Conor McCann – conordrummmccann.com

Mike McGuire – michaelkmcguire.com

Alison Murphy – amurph.com

Ryan Niland – ryanniland.com

Dorado Quick – doradoquickwrites.com

Nick Roberston – bnrobertson.com

Neeruj Sethi – neerujsethi.com

Ryan Snyder – rysny.com

Jesse Stanton – jessestanton.com

Madeleine Trebenski – madeleinetrebenski.com

VCU Brandcenter Week – Patrick Girts

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What’s better than clicking through a portfolio and laughing out loud? Above is a photo of Patrick that, according to his About Girts page, he hates. (Now immortalized on MC, you’re welcome!) Loving all of the VCU portfolio site About Us pages, BTW. Good stuff. Also, don’t miss Patrick’s campaign for Black Flag Bug Zappers (“The last thing that went through his head … was one of his legs.”). And his Character Demo Reel in Voice Work. Awesome.

Portfolio: patrickgirts.com

VCU Brandcenter Week – Joe Hartley

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One of the great things about clicking through VCU student books is that you never know what you’re gonna find. Joe’s got under-label fold-out stories for Hellmann’s (above), taxi tops for Greyhound, funky video for Airwick, and the Patbenetaur—you’ll just have to find that one for yourself. Can’t wait to see where Joe lands after graduation.

Portfolio: joehartley.pizza

VCU Brandcenter Week – Emma Dou

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No two copywriters become copywriters the same way. Check out Emma’s “Life Highlights” page and you’ll learn that she started in Nanjing, China, moved to Vancouver, Canada, undergrad at University of British Columbia, summer dishwasher in Osaka, Japan, then three novels, The Great Wall, Popeye’s Chicken, Empire State Building, VCU Brandcenter, and here we are today. Ta-da!

Portfolio: emmadou.com

VCU Brandcenter Week – Madeleine Trebenski

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VCU Brandcenter Week 2015 kicks off with Maddy Trebenski. The awesome thing about student portfolios is that they’re, well, student portfolios. You can do anything, for any client. Maddy’s got stop-motion videos for Tim Hortons, a game for Twirl-A-Squirrel (OMG buying one immediately), packaging for Happy Socks, creepy ear love for Sennheiser, and other weird stuff including a seance with a Pretty Pony from Dollar Tree (above). As it should be.

Portfolio: madeleinetrebenski.com

VCU Brandcenter Week 2014 – CW Grads

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Ladies and gentlemen, MC is honored to present the portfolio sites of the 2014 VCU Brandcenter graduating copywriters (in alphabetical order):

Sam Bauer – sambauercw.com

Karen Bolipata – karenbolipata.com

Jimmy Burton – jimmyburton.com

Ally Farrish – allyfarrish.com

Peter Henningsen – peterhenningsen.com

Katie Johnston – katierjohnston.com

Blakeley Jones – blakeleyjones.com

Demian Kendall – demiankendall.com

Chase Kimball – clkimball.com

Nicole Lague – nicolelague.com

Liz Loudy – lizloudy.com

Samson Madella – samsonmadella.com

Steve Nass – stevenjnass.com

Trong Nguyen – tronghnguyen.com

Hunter Pinnell – hpinnell.com

Erin Ridgeway – erinridgeway.com

Garrick Sheldon – garricksheldon.com

Gabe Sherman – meetgabesherman.com

Colleen Trachy – colleentrachy.com

VCU Brandcenter Week 2014 – Samson Madella

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Samson is from South India, where from 2002 through 2012 he was a professional bass player, church elder, missionary, guitar player, songwriter, clinician, proofreader, gofer, report writer, activist, publicist, singer, change agent, band manager, hotel lobby musician, content writer, and social justice advocate. Today, he is a new copywriter grad from VCU Brandcenter, and his site features projects represented by electric guitar pedals. Excellent.

Portfolio: samsonmadella.com