Bruce serves as chairman of the Global Creative Council and is responsible for the brand experience agency’s global creative vision and output. He joined Jack Morton from Geometry Global, where he served as Chief Creative Officer, NA. While there, the agency’s work was recognized at Cannes (shortlist), Effie, Clio, EX, and Reggie award festivals. Bruce spent nearly a decade at Ogilvy in NY, leading creative efforts for integrated global and US accounts including Siemens, SAP, Six Flags, TD Ameritrade and DuPont. He started his career at the pioneer digital shop Agency.com at the dawn of the information age.
questionnaire
What was your very first job?
Paperboy.
Please describe, in your own words, what your job is and what work it entails.
I am Chief Creative Officer of Jack Morton Worldwide, a leading global brand experience agency. The main focus of my role is ensuring that we are doing extraordinary work that helps our clients build their brands and achieve their business objectives. At a high level, that means I work to find the right people to lead our creative efforts, inspire, manage and mentor those people, and provide creative vision for our agency and clients.
How did you discover that the creative world was right for you? Was there a time in your life that you credit to this discovery? What was the train of events that brought you to where you are today?
I was interested in music and writing from an early age, and started writing songs in high school. I was a songwriter and a recording artist for a number of years before I started writing for magazines and TV. I also published a non-fiction book and was a writer for an early literary web site in the 90s. That got me interested in the potential of the web, and in 1999 I took a job at one of the pioneer web firms.
In your constantly growing and expanding industry, how do you find inspiration to keep your work fresh, innovative and relevant?
The single most important thing is to get out and see the world. The most meaningful inspiration comes from life and how different people live it.
If you had to pick one piece of work or project that you are most proud of, more for the creative work and the innovation it required, rather than its recognition or industry “success” what would it be?
It’s not really a piece of work, but rather a part of my work. I am most proud of my—and our agency’s—efforts on behalf of the 3% Conference, working with Kat Gordon’s organization to increase the number of female creative directors in our industry. That will probably have the most lasting and meaningful impact.