Nathan Crow / SVP / Group Creative Director
EXPERIENCE
Rubin Postaer and Associates
_ Group Creative Director / 2016 - current /
I have the honor of co-leading talented teams (made up of equally talented people) on a variety of 360 projects spanning across a multitude of clients. The everchanging challenges we face each day are met with a tireless spirit of optimism empowered with the goal of working together as a unified team to create great creative work. We push against our own expectations of what we can achieve regardless of the budget, and we earn the trust of our clients by listening, learning and treating everyone with respect. Every. Single. Day.
_ Creative Director / 2011 - 2016 /
Bidding adieu to Honda, the adjustment of shifting from producing creative ideas to leading creatives who produce creative ideas was an easy one thanks to my experience with The Book Shop. I quickly learned that a spirit of optimism was a crucial component to inspiring future success within all departments.
The biggest success during this time? In addition to leading all creative efforts for our accounts, we created the Intuit Small Business Big Game program. The idea - create a Superbowl commercial that wasn’t for Intuit, but for an actual small business... and it ended up being the largest coverage driver in Intuit’s history, generating 13 billion impressions with more than 3800 articles. It was so successful, they did it again.
_ Junior AD / Art Director / Senior Art Director / Associate Creative Director / 2000 - 2011/
In my first decade at Honda, I honed my skills through various projects. From launching the Element to leading car campaigns, I immersed myself in automotive advertising. This period taught me to think innovatively and strategically, producing excellent work on modest budgets. I grasped the importance of adapting to clients' fluctuating moods and the balance between persistence and compromise. Understanding the impact of producers and production on refining ideas, valuing listening and continuous learning, and realizing the influence of our actions on both the work and colleagues were all valuable lessons learned during this time.
_ BookShop Instructor /2004 - current/
What began as a driven goal to build a portfolio & get a job as a junior AD turned into an opportunity to teach. And honestly, it wasn’t easy. It was much harder than I could have imagined. Listening to ideas. Figuring out how to tactfully tell someone an idea “just wasn’t there yet” wasn’t something I was good at. It took time. And practice. And lots of listening. And plenty of awkward pauses.
I eventually realized that if they were going to be successful, I had to dig deep and treat each thought and idea like it was my own. I had to care about their work as much as the students did. Because that’s what it takes to push an idea from being mediocre to having meaning. You must passionately care about the individuals AND the ideas. And as I gained experience, I began to realize that teaching was training me for what I would eventually be doing in real life... advocating the ideas of others.
Teaching has taught me so much: The importance of giving back and helping others. The reality that it takes a lot of effort, focus and determination to break into (and stay) in this business. The power of the team and the potential we have when we work together. And of course, seeing first-hand how talented the next generation is and that the ability to have a long-standing career in this business is based on an ability to listen, learn and lead with humility.
EDUCATION
_ Washington State University
Major: Advertising / minor: Fine Arts
_ The Bookshop Portfolio School
Built a book and entered the world of advertising