Copywriter Wanted: Two by Four, Chicago

2x4

Laura Allen, HR/Operations Supervisor at Two by Four in Chicago, is on the hunt for a copywriter. From Laura: “Is your brain a petri dish for great ideas? Do they bounce around in your head like pinballs on crack? If so, perhaps you’d like to see them come to fruition as a Great Idea Generator: Copywriter at Two by Four. We’re in the market for a kick-ass writer—someone who not only gets it, but does it. An inventive, surprising, passionate thinker, someone who can take a strategy and conceptually turn it on its ear. A self-motivated, self-aware self-starter, with an understanding of mediums from television to web, print to guerilla—and everything in between. Oh, and did we mention you’ll be doing this at breakneck speed? Buckle your seatbelt. If you think you’ve got what it takes, give us a shout. You may be the right writer for the job.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Develop fantastic creative concepts, seen through to execution
  • Come at things from refreshingly unique angles; don’t just show us the expected stuff: surprise us, excite us, wow us, and make us happy we hired you
  • Do create work that makes our clients, the agency and your parents proud
  • Don’t be a prima donna; if you are, trust us—you won’t last very long here
  • Raise your hand when you’re not busy. Volunteer. Engage. Immerse yourself. Help out wherever you can. Make yourself indispensable. We’ll notice, you’ll benefit.
  • Depending on experience level, present work to clients; in any event, you’ll be working towards that goal—we don’t want to go to every client meeting
  • Keep track of your hours and do your time sheets on time; yes, this matters
  • Oh, and other thing: we start at 8:30; yes, this matters, too—set your alarm accordingly
  • Roll up your sleeves, put on your thinking cap and dive headfirst into new business we’ve won a ton of new biz this year alone. Want an opportunity to grow? This is it.
  • Stand out, but fit in. This is one helluva fun place to work, with a really cool agency culture. Be a part of it.

Qualifications/Skills Required for this Position:

  • Enough experience to let us know that you know what you’re doing.
  • A killer portfolio.
  • Being a grown-up. We don’t want to have to watch over you all the time, and you don’t want that either. If you can’t work without supervision, this won’t work.
  • A general understanding of how things work in advertising, including radio production and TV production, print production, web development, etc.”

For more info or to apply email Laura at: lallen@twoxfour.com

Mike Tsapos

esurance

Mike is a freelance ACD/copywriter currently at Leo Burnett in Chicago. He’s got a crazy variety of projects on his Behance site—from BMW Motorcycles to ESPN/Die Hard 4 co-branding, a campaign for the American Association of Railroads to a commercial for DCBeer.com featuring, well, you’ll just have to see that one for yourself. (MC only looked at the left side, FYI.)

Portfolio: behance.net/mtsapos

Chicago Portfolio School Week – Spring 2015

cps-1

Ladies and gentlemen, MC is honored to present the portfolio sites of nine Chicago Portfolio School graduating copywriters (in alphabetical order):

Adam Bedol – adambedol.com

Amanda Burger – amandaburger.com 

Vikram Chadda- adsofmyworld.com

Kelly Foreman – kellyforeman.com

Martha Murphy – martha-murphy.com

Jeff Polaschek – jeffpolaschek.com

Lyndsey Stormer – lyndseystormer.com

Kevin Tosi – cargocollective.com/kevintosi

John Wrend – john-wrend.com

Chicago Portfolio School Week – Kevin Tosi & Adam Bedol

orgina

huggies

After graduating from CPS, Kevin is now at HY Connect in Chicago and Adam will soon be at R/GA in New York. In addition to awesome student portfolios, while at CPS they also created Darn Good Baloney, a podcast of interviews with ad industry titans like Jeff Goodby, Susan Credle, Matt Moore, Ross Fletcher, and … others of great import and huge influence. Dig it.

Adam’s portfolio: adambedol.com

Kevin’s portfolio: cargocollective.com/kevintosi

Chicago Portfolio School Week – Martha Murphy

spideroak

Martha graduated from CPS and is now interning at WONGDOODY in Los Angeles. What else has she done? Check out her About Me page for 9 truths and 1 boldfaced lie. She’s a new copywriter who’s already had some good adventures. And good adventures make good stories. And good stories are what being a writer is all about.

Portfolio: martha-murphy.com

Chicago Portfolio School Week – Amanda Burger

pot

Chicago Portfolio School Week on MC kicks off with Amanda Burger, who’s going to be freelancing at Leo Burnett in Chicago after graduation. (Huge congrats!) Also, huge thanks to Amanda who helped MC put together CPS Week on MC 2015 by gathering everyone’s links, getting the a-ok to post, and sending them all in. Love it.

Portfolio: amandaburger.com

 

Jeff Oswald

will2

Jeff is a senior writer/ACD at Cossette Chicago. Since his last post on MC (01.30.14), he moved from Jacobson Rost to Cossette, made a new site, and added new work—including a bunch for McDonald’s. MC wonders: How do copywriters who work on McDonald’s avoid eating McDonald’s all the time? Or is that just MC? Arrrg.

Portfolio: jeffoswaldwriter.com

Rich Black

porsche

Rich is a copywriter/ACD at Downtown Partners Chicago. Since his last post on MC five years ago (04.03.10, has it really been that long?), Rich has spent time at Cramer-Krasselt as the lead writer on Porsche—I really hope that means he got to drive one for free—and then moved to Downtown Partners. And took his Cayman with him??

Portfolio: cargocollective.com/brightblack

Lyndsey Tonyan

game

Way back in January 2014, MC featured Lyndsey’s portfolio in a list of Chicago Portfolio School grads. Here we are, one year later, and Lyndsey’s friend and fellow CW Audrey Hansen has re-submitted her portfolio to MC for an update. (Big ups, Audrey. Love that.) Six tight campaigns and some beautiful typography in her portfolio, including one for the Department of Health and DARE, above, that MC would be all over if it existed. Fun.

Portfolio: lyndseytonyan.com

UPDATE: Ann Titus

TabletsDM_640

Ann is a freelance copywriter/ACD in Chicago, currently at Havas Worldwide on Citibank, after taking a year and a half off “to become a more insightful marketer to suburbanites and stay-at-home moms.” (Love that.) Since her last post on MC (04.06.12), she’s redesigned her site and added a bunch of new work. Time for an update!

Portfolio: anntitus.com

Drake Paul

shower

Drake is a new copywriter in Chicago, just finishing up an internship at DDB. All kinds of interesting clients in his portfolio including AppleJacks, Deering Banjos and Kohler Music Showerheads. How has MC never heard of music showerheads—showerheads and speakers in one, like shampoo and conditioner in the same bottle? Hello, Santa Wish List.

Portfolio: drakepaul.com

Sarah Dembowski

denise_print_o

Sarah is a new copywriter after recently graduating from Chicago Portfolio School, and is now freelancing at DDB Chicago. This is what it’s like for the kids these days. Sarah’s got a campaign for Orville Redenbacher Ready-to-Eat Popcorn that’s all about how much easier it is than microwave popcorn. Wait, you mean we need something easier than microwave popcorn?! But. But. In her ad above, it’s equal to the difference between typewriters and computers. But I. I just. (Sigh)

Portfolio: sarahdembkowski.com

Jose Benítez

gain

Jose is a copywriter at Dieste in Chicago. He’s also a professional skateboarder who did some time at Second City. (Proving once again that drummers, comedians and surfers/skateboarders make great copywriters.) So cool to see how writers like Jose jump from one ad culture to another—and one language to another. A good idea is a good idea.

Portfolio: letsseeifthisnameistaken.com

Evan Elberson

guitar2

Evan just graduated from Chicago Portfolio School (big congrats!), and spent time before that time in the Second City writing program. Always fun to see portfolios coming right out of school—when the client and creative can be anything. Like Evan’s Sugar In The Raw campaign. A whole new spin on “Come give Grandma some sugar.” Goodness.

Portfolio: evanelbersoncreative.com

Senior CW Wanted: MCD NYC or Chicago

MCD_blue_large

Sandy Wang, Recruiter at Magnani Caruso Dutton, is looking for a senior copywriter who could work at either their NYC or Chicago office. A little about MCD: “MCD is the kind of place that encourages innovation and rewards hard work. We are an agency where ideas rule, and everything follows from there. Here you’ll find smart, creative professionals that take what they do seriously, but thankfully not themselves. By design we are a highly productive agency without the long hours, and promote teamwork without any embarrassing pep rallies.” To learn more or to apply, click the links below:

NYC Senior Copywriter: Click here

Chicago Senior Copywriter: Click here

Alan Snider

cme

Alan is a senior copywriter at Avenue in Chicago and a student at Second City Training Center. If MC could start MC over, there’d be a tag for copywriters who’ve had experience with Second City—and it would probably be one of the more popular tags. So many great copywriters have stand-up and comedy writing experience, which makes so much sense.

Portfolio: alansnider.com

Tim Donakowski

pork

Tim is a copywriter in Chicago, having recently returned to The Windy City after four years in NYC. Click on his Trojan project link, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and you’ll find a two-minute video “The History of Getting It On.” It’s no joke. It’s actually the history of condoms in the modern world. (Fun.) These are the things we get paid to do, my friends. Dig it.

Portfolio: cargocollective.com/timdonakowski

Nate Steele

allstate

Nate is a copywriter at Leo Burnett in Chicago. Whole bunch of Allstate in his portfolio including TV, banners and print. How great is the Mayhem campaign? Great. He’s also got a Second City sketch that he wrote and titled, which ran for five weeks. Once again proving that comedian and copywriter are like peanut butter and jelly.

Portfolio: natesteele.com

Dan Jordan

steve

Dan is a copywriter/ACD at Calvary in Chicago. (Second City alert! Once again proving MC’s theory that comedians, drummers and surfers make great copywriters.) Fun stuff up and down his portfolio. One of MC’s faves is Chili’s “Open Letter” (above) reaction to Steve Carell and Paul Rudd’s spoof of LeBron’s famous “I’m going to Miami” ESPN interview. Steve and Paul end up describing/laughing about the letter on Charlie Rose. Genius.

Portfolio: cargocollective.com/cawpywriter

Steven Jaynes

food

Steven is a copywriter at Blue Chip Marketing in Chicago. Just a crazy variety of projects and media in his portfolio. From a Cover Girl/MTV VMA Twitter Party to Food Network food porn for Fisher Nuts (above), there’s a little something for everyone. Plus, have to mention, MC got the chance to chat with Steven a couple of times over the past few months—and he’s good people. Dig it.

Portfolio: stevenjaynes.com

UPDATE: Ben Santoriello

adamscott

Ben is a freelance writer in Chicago. Since his last post on MC, just after graduating from Circus (09.28.12), he’s spent time at INNOCEAN and Draftfcb, and added a bunch of work to his site. His book is in that in-between stage, part student and part produced, which MC digs seeing the most. So interesting to check out what writers create in school, and what that means in agency life, at this shop or that. Clicking through Ben’s site, MC totally remembered his school book vibe. And watching his FootJoy video, it’s like, yep, there he is—Bag Checking a pro golfer, just hoping to find Atomic Fireballs or Laphroaig.

Portfolio: bensantoriello.com