About
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When I was a boy, the ability to draw a horse or Speed Racer’s Mach 5 was an easy way to impress a girl or to make a friend. I was raised as an only child by my grandmother and sometimes struggled to find my place in the world. In high school, my two passions were basketball and art. I had an art teacher and a coach who made lasting impressions on me. In college, I discovered the power of graphic design by studying the work of Saul Bass and Alexey Brodovitch, and I was amazed that one could make a living by mastering visual communication. I owe a lot to my college design professor, Rob Lawton, who did not suffer fools gladly, but who was great preparation for some of my later bosses and clients. I met my wife at an ad agency. She was a writer and I was a graphic designer. This was before we used computers in design, and we did all our work by hand. I then went to work for Nike right before things really got big, and I was able to see where advertising and design intersect, and to appreciate that the best advertising includes the finer elements of design. I met some people from Wieden & Kennedy and I was lucky enough to land a job in their Amsterdam office. Since then, I have worked at Benetton in Italy, had my own creative company in Dallas, and spent a few years learning a lot from the good people at Goodby Silverstein. For the last five years, I have been the executive creative director at Wieden Amsterdam, completing a long, circuitous journey of learning and fun and mistakes and successes. All of these adventures have ultimately led me to the Martin Agency: a place full of talent and respect, and an opportunity to do good work in a good place with good people. I am happy to be here, and energized by the challenge of looking for ways to make a great place even greater. Richmond surprises me every day with its charm and warmth, and my four kids have finally landed in a place that they can call home for a long time. Now, over 20 years into my career, I still feel lucky every day that the boy who loved to draw got to grow up and get paid to show people his drawings. What a wonderful life.
Biography:
John currently serves as the Chief Creative Officer of The Martin Agency in Richmond, Virginia.
He was formerly the Executive Creative Director of the Amsterdam office of Wieden + Kennedy. Clients included Nike, Coca-Cola, Tanqueray Gin, Electronic Arts, Nokia, BASF Chemicals, Heineken brewery, Pirelli tires, Turkcell, and Honda.
After joining the Amsterdam office in early 2005, John led the win of the global Coca-Cola business, and helped create the "Coke Side of Life" campaign, which includes the very successful Happiness Factory work. He also led the creative process on work for Nike's Running, Women’s and World Cup initiatives, as well as Coca-Cola's Olympic advertising, and the launch of the Honda eco-family of vehicles.
In 2008-2009, John worked together with his creative team to win six out of seven new business pitches for clients including German chemical company BASF, Pirelli tires, Tanqueray gin, Nokia and Honda. Two other major initiatives John completed while in Amsterdam were the location and renovation of Wieden’s new offices, which were awarded one of the Netherlands highest architectural accolades, and the implementation and growth of the fully integrated and highly successful interactive group.
From 2002 to 2005, John was Group Creative Director at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco. There, he helped launch the highly awarded and innovative Hewlett-Packard “+HP” campaign. He also created a new visual identity for Hewlett-Packard while generating and supervising work including television commercials, multi-page print campaigns, media installations, out-of-home advertising, and innovative interactive campaigns. This work was awarded the Campaign of the Year award by Creativity magazine, and the prestigious Vision award by the New York Art Director’s Guild., as well as numerous other awards.
Prior to joining Goodby, John ran his own agency in Dallas, Texas, called Tilford:Norman, in a partnership with writer Todd Tilford. Clients included Footstar, Spyder Skiwear, Chili’s Restaurants, The Limited Inc., and Pizza Hut.
From 1998 to 2000, John lived and worked in Treviso, Italy as the Design Director for Benetton, Spa. At Benetton, he directed advertising and design projects for the company’s sports brands, which included Rollerblade, Killer Loop, Nordica and Prince. While in Italy, John also served as a director of the Benetton international design school, Fabrica.
From 1996 to 1998, John worked as a senior art director for Wieden & Kennedy in the Amsterdam office where he developed print and television campaigns for Coca-Cola, Microsoft, and Nike. While in Amsterdam, John created the controversial, award-winning campaign for the Nikepark Soccer., an experiential environment that debuted in Paris at the 1998 World Cup.
Between 1988 and 1996 John worked mainly as a Graphic Designer and Design Director, beginning in Dallas, and moving to Miami and Beaverton, Oregon. His projects ranged from developing graphic and identity plans for corporate clients to promotional work for Pepsi and brand identities for Nike. While based at Nike in Beaverton, John was the lead designer for the internationally recognized Hooptown complex in Tokyo, Japan, an innovative, retail basketball environment designed to introduce Nike basketball to Japan.
Raised as an only child by his grandmother, John early on immersed himself in design and communication – from comic books and television to fine art. John is a classically-trained designer with a degree in Fine Arts from East Texas University. In an age where communication must reach a fast-moving audience speaking any number of languages, John fundamentally believes that all communication has roots in design, and that the best advertising contains a strong concept and a simple form.
In addition to commercials that have been seen the world over, John’s work has appeared on trams in Amsterdam, on the walls of Red Square in Moscow, on the streets of Tokyo, on the Metro in Paris, in front of the National Gallery in London, in Times Square New York, and on shoes all over the world.
His work has been widely recognized and has won awards including an Emmy nomination, the Grand Prix Epica Award, the New York Art Director’s Vision Award, Creativity Magazine’s Campaign of the Year, and the Top 5 Award, multiple Cannes, Effies, and One Show medals, the Japan Nikkei Award, the Russian Grand Effie, Adweek’s Spot of the Year, and has been featured in almost every advertising and design publication. The Happiness Factory campaign currently stands as the most highly awarded television commercial ever.
John currently lives in Richmond, Virginia with his wife, Dee, and their four children aged 14, 13, 10 and 8.