Our Favorite Stories

• Alec's journey as the "Photoshop kid" at Grey Entertainment, helping build the Batman movie's first website.
• His reflections on surviving the Web 1.0 era and the exciting chaos of startups in 1990s New York.
• Using virtual reality for healthcare. Talk about ahead of the curve! Alec tells us about a 1993 college paper he wrote at Columbia on VR as a treatment for schizophrenia.

Big Moments from Doing the Work

• Alec's transition from startups to healthcare advertising, driven by his desire for stability after his daughter’s birth.
• Leading engagement strategy at Area 23 and Neon, crafting human-centered storytelling for pharmaceutical clients.
• Exploring the potential of AI tools like MidJourney and Leonardo.ai for creating impactful healthcare narratives.

Career Advice We’ll Live With

• Embrace storytelling non-linearly; start with the compelling "hook" and let context follow.
• Use new technologies as creative extensions, not replacements, to enhance ideation and storytelling efficiency.
• Stay curious and connected: Participate in communities (like MidJourney’s Discord) and actively seek inspiration from creators and innovators.
• Balance passion with teaching—spread your enthusiasm to inspire and uplift others in your field.

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Our favorite stories:

• From record label & photography studio to ad agency; shaping incredible brands like Lollapalooza and Pitchfork to now Kimberly-Clark and Patagonia
• Renting a $700/month, 2,000 sq ft industrial space to make band posters & album art, produce music, and photograph musicians.
• Creating Someoddpilot at 25 - "the gusto, the sincerity, the sureness even though I had no idea what I was doing"
• "I'm the kid that walked out of art school and wanted to keep that feel going... of critique, of discovery... that's the dream. That's why artists are artists."
• The record label was still going but it wasn't working and making money, I considered it a failure. But looking back it was exactly what I should be doing, what I loved doing.
• "I never wanted to web design, it was just a giant door for us to walk through in 1999."
• Launching the Public Works gallery

Big moments from doing the work:

• "I had shown artwork in galleries when I graduated college and thought that was the end all be all... once I had a chance to experience that, and contrast with band shows, and feel the palpable difference of what it was like to be in those environments, it got me thinking that there were other ways to apply my skills... the camaraderie... the art gang that can laugh and pal around and make work, and get excited about something..."
• Making a better website for The Empty Bottle and charting a rebrand. T-shirts, flyers, and digital for $3,000 of bar tabs.
• "Pitchfork were the only ones who got up five days a week and published 3 articles by 9am" - sending records to Pitchfork and getting an in with the intern up the street. "They do websites too!"
• An age-old problem: "I have a legacy brand with a generation of users that treasure and love what we're doing but we need to modernize and bring it forward to the future, expand what it can be, mean something to a new consumer, but not lose the thread on the old"

Career advice we'll live with:

• "I've always been a Straight-A student that had a bad mouth... I've always felt good about expressing very honestly and very vulnerably... there's something about cursing or speaking as yourself."
• "You didn't know what you were doing... there's no course at that age to explain diplomatic or democratic creative decision making... "
• "I didn't know what graphic design was but I knew I needed to make this flyer."
• On getting a foot in the door: "How do you get half your body stuck in the door screaming your head off. Even if you know someone, they don't always know."
• "Game of Thrones is a great example of a creative property that should be for nerds only. By definition it should be for DnD nerds, but what ended up happening is that everyone in the world loved that show because it was so well done, and the story was so rich."
• "You aren't going to pull the wool over anyone's eyes... who you are and the mythology around the work you are doing... it's not going to come from any briefs or approaches, that's going to come from a badass dedication to the heart and soul of what this business is, and going out in the world and communicating it in a way that turns heads, and inspires the shit out of people." - making a friend for life.

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Our favorite stories:

• Mass media shaped by sight-sound imagery, inspired by watching a ton of TV and critiquing the commercials as much as watching the programming. Recalling jingles, surgery cartoons, GEICO ads...
• On trying research journalism - "something just wasn't clicking, it felt like it drained me of energy."
• Part time restaurant job and appliance & repair parts marketing... the perfect recipe for becoming the future Head of Strategy at Sid Lee? JK - it helped with learning how to relate with people. (KEY SKILL)

Big moments from doing the work:

• Originally applied to VCU for copywriting, but was identified as a strategist. Found mentorship in Earl Cox, late CSO of The Martin Agency
• On trust and taste: critical ingredients for a successful collaboration between strategy and creative. "you have to figure out the references that connect with them... but do not be the Judge Judy in the room"
• On working with younger creatives: "get them into the habit of explaining their rationale... it makes for more fruitful working relationships."
• Bringing together a high-velocity team: hiring for the right skills, but also leaving room for individuals to surpass their own expectations for themselves.
• "I like seeing people's faces" - Earl Cox was great at taking a room and working it... reading it and regurgitating it...

Career advice we'll live with:

• On imposter syndrome: "Find people who are going to be your advocates... if you have someone accomplished that thinks you can do XYZ, maybe you can!"
• Jargon Monoxide creates a fall sense of competence... folks from non-traditional marketing backgrounds have these razor-sharp minds but don't have that marketing-ese... Cardi B is a brilliant marketer but she does NOT sound like the people I'm in meetings with
• "I love a From > To" - the more honest you are with that, the more provocative... that is always a money maker... when you can capture the mood of the clients, in addition to their ambition... reshape it in a way that gets people excited to hear what you have to say.
• On setting a vision for success: "all strategy is to get people to take the time to align on where we're going"
• "An informed opinion delivered with conviction delivers hope." On helping people find their own 'lightbulb moment'.
• "Rigidity is the pitfall of strategy... overconfidence, over complication, too 'inside baseball'... those are all off-ramps."
• "If I don't understand this, there's no way the consumer will understand it."

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