Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Andy Pearson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Andy, appreciate you joining us today. Can you take us back in time to the first dollar you earned as a creative – how did it happen? What’s the story?
The year was 2008. I was a student at an advertising portfolio school called The Creative Circus. My partner and I just got an email from the organizers of the Cannes Advertising Festival congratulating us on winning a Future Lion award. It’s an award given out to five teams of students worldwide every year at the prestigious advertising festival. Their email said something to the effect of, “Congrats on winning. We were just wondering if you were going to pick the award up in person next week or not.” We immediately googled where Cannes was and discovered to our horror that it was in France. We needed to get to the French Riviera in a week. And on top of that, another team from our school won as well. Between the four of us, we calculated we needed $10,000 for airfare, lodging, and food. Tomorrow. We thought, “OK, how do they raise money in movies?… Keg party?… No, that won’t work. Car wash?… Probably not enough… Bake sale? Bake sale!” I said, “If we just sell cookies for $500 a piece, we only have to sell 20 cookies. And we can sell 20 cookies.” Everyone thought it was insane, but might just be insane enough to work.
So overnight, we did a photoshoot of us baking in my apartment kitchen under a banner that said “Cookies For Cannes.” We took the photos and threw them up on a website with our story and then blasted it out to every ad blog, ad news site, and agency contact we could think of. In the morning, we woke up to some coverage about the story, but no money. Finally, that afternoon, we got a call from Leo Burnett Chicago saying they wanted to buy a dozen cookies ($6,000). AKQA responded saying they wanted to buy two more ($1,000). And more emails rolled in with people buying cookies or pieces of cookies. Eventually, within 24 hours, we had raised the entire $10,000.
It was literally the first ad I’d ever made that worked. A week later, the four of us were in Cannes, receiving our awards and soaking in some very minor fame from the stunt. And being there in Cannes that week helped launch my entire career, eventually leading me to leave school early to take a job at Wieden+Kennedy first and then eventually at Crispin Porter + Bogusky.
So, it was the best first dollar I’ve ever earned.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I got into creative advertising because I loved seeing real problems solved in unexpected elegant and counterintuitive ways. I remember in college I took an Intro To Advertising course, and the professor had an example of A1 Steak Sauce. He said they added three words to the label that increased sales by about 25%. And those three words were “Refrigerate after opening.” Because, for every one time people opened their pantry door (where the sauce had previously been stored) they opened their refrigerator door ten times. That blew my young mind.
I’ve always felt like there are way more interesting solutions to marketing than just marketing. And now I get to prove that out at the VP of Creative at Liquid Death. I’m lucky enough to be part of an insane marketing machine that puts entertainment first and is trying to rewrite how everything is supposed to be done. We do about 99% of our creative work in house now, taking everything from the very kernel of the idea all the way through production and launch. My daily job can involve writing scripts, concepting brand or celeb partnership ideas, directing our next video, editing our last video, working with our social team to craft a new influencer idea, or editing or writing our tomorrow’s merch launch email. We do it all ourselves, and that’s why we’re having so much fun.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
Do it different. I’m so bored with things like big budget commercials and celebrities.The ad industry sniffs its own butt constantly. It’s way more enjoyable to strive to be successful with something that had no previous guarantee of success.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
I don’t really view myself as a “creative.” I’m just someone who gets to do all kinds of fun stuff and be put in all kinds of wild and wonderful situations. So in a way, it feels pretty rewarding (and surreal) to get to do what I do every day.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ievenwrotethissickurl.com
- Instagram: @ievenshotthis
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyisacopywriter/
- Twitter: @ievenwrotethis
