Jeremy Fulco's dual roles bring Creative 303 and Player's Bench closer to the customer

As content manager for Creative 303, Jeremy Fulco is responsible for gathering and managing all text and images for every client deliverable. But on evenings and weekends, he laces up for Creative 303 client and Denver-based hockey retailer Player's Bench as a sales associate. Like the rare player on the ice who can skate like a forward or a defenseman, Jeremy provides a critical link between agency, client and customer that is bound by the glue of hockey passion.

A former college player from Michigan, Fulco landed the sales job at Player's Bench not long after coming on board here at 303. The advantages were obvious: his in-the-trenches view of what customers were responding to gave him insight into our efforts to boost online sales at PlayersBench.com. And Jeremy's rapport with Player's Bench leadership helps Creative 303's design team be more responsive to client feedback, which shortens overall creative production time. Player's Bench CEO Rick Boh and COO Mike Callahan are, like Jeremy, former players. Culturally, the company prides itself on being a "by the players, for the players" retailer whose employee immersion in the sport results in a better consultative buying experience.

"Being in the sport takes over your mind, body and soul," says Fulco. "To have that connection with your client and their customers gives you a deeper understanding of and commitment to the relationship."

It's the perfect alignment of individual interest and team strategy, and a prime example of how boutique creative agencies can forge the intimate local bonds that keep teammates like Jeremy in service to their passion and in touch with the needs of two critical audiences at once.

DC Shoes branding officer turns personal passion into viral gold

We came across this sick viral for DC Shoes. It's not hard to see why this video turned into a marketing coup for the brand. It definitely made that empty parking lot across the street look totally different. Check out the video, and an accompanying article from Ad Age below:

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Five years ago, DC Shoes founder Ken Block decided he needed another challenge beyond being his footwear and apparel company's chief brand officer. So at age 37, he embarked upon another career: rally racing. But it wasn't just a lark. Mr. Block, who oversees product design and development as well as marketing, was actually good, winning Rookie of the Year honors on the Rally America circuit, and getting a sponsor in the process.

But the rally-racing marketing executive also recently gained fame with another, perhaps dubious, honor, as having made and appearing in one of the top 10 viral ads of all time.

Read the rest here...

Senior creatives leaving big shops to start boutique agencies

This NYT article about top-level creative talent leaving big agencies to start their own projects struck a chord here at Creative 303. Our CCO and founder John Meyer — who also bailed on a big shop to start Creative 303 — found it quite resonant. Excerpt below...there's also another great article on the same subject over at Ad Age. Enjoy!

Co:, with a colon, is the name of an agency being opened in New York by Ty Montague and Rosemarie Ryan, who surprised Madison Avenue in March by disclosing that they would leave their senior posts at the giant JWT for an entrepreneurial venture. The name — perhaps one of the pithiest for any agency — is meant to suggest the Co: business model by evoking words like co-creation, collaboration and co-venturing.

Fittingly, Mr. Montague and Ms. Ryan had been co-presidents of the North American operations of JWT, part of WPP; she arrived at the agency in 2004 and he joined a year later. Mr. Montague had also been chief creative officer for North America. They joined a lengthy list of top executives of large agencies who have recently left to open their own shops, take ownership stakes in smaller agencies or, in some instances, quit advertising.

Artist Laurie Maves interprets Creative 303 in original painting

Creative 303 recently commissioned the amazing Laurie Maves to paint a piece of artwork for our office. We sought her out because of her unique, fresh, and timely perspective on the work she does. In her own words: "I believe artists have a special responsibility in creating art to be as green as they possibly can, and use their own creativity to explore new ways of presenting the mundane and ordinary to the world in new and challenging ways."

That kind of perspective really drew us to Laurie. Check out the finished work below:

John Common adds musical shine to Ignite Boulder

We sent our social media intern @eric_alex to look in on this week's Ignite Boulder, which dares some of the most brilliant, insightful and outrageous people in Colorado — from teachers to waitresses, ad geeks to meteorologists — to meet Ignite's one major requirement: be interesting. The presentations are often over the top, as you can see here:

Probably the coolest part of the whole experience was the intermission performance by John Common and the Blinding Flashes of Light. Our friends over at bieMEDIA and 511 Productions worked with him to create a promotional video in January for the release of his latest album. It was humbling to get the opportunity to see him and his amazingly talented band perform.

Overall, a great night of fun with some of the most interesting, unique, and creative people in Colorado! We'll definitely be hitting up the next one, as well as the smaller but equally awesome Ignite Denver.

Check out some of the amazing photos taken by @bradcrooks here.