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Chris VALENCIUS
SVP, Creative Director | ARNOLD WW
Chris is an SVP Creative Director at Arnold (an ad agency), where he runs the Brown-Foreman global business. He handles most Jack Daniel’s related duties. Prior to that he was a freelance creative director living in Iowa, where his wife was attending a graduate program. He lived in an old farmhouse, grew vegetables, and went fishing. At night he laid on the grass with his 3 year-old daughter, watching bats and inventing stories about them. During that time, he crafted multi-disciplinary creative work for Google, KIA, Audi, Alpha Romeo, Progressive, Facebook, Reebok, and others. It was a nice setup, and he felt lucky. He’s also worked at advertising agencies including Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Chiat, and Translation, on accounts including Volkswagen, American Legacy “Truth”, Comcast, State Farm, Jameson, Saturn, and Budweiser. He’s given lectures, taught classes and won most of the advertising awards in most of their colors.
questionnaire
1.) What was your very first job?
When I was 8, my dad paid me 20 dollars to hand calligraph a poster of song lyrics he liked. He made me redo it 7 times before he thought it was worth 20 dollars.
2.) Please describe, in your own words, what your job is and what work it entails.
I ensure that the work we show our partners on the client side is excellent in terms of creative quality and strategic intelligence. Sometimes that means I make it, sometimes I just remove any roadblocks in the way of my teams.
3.) How and when did you discover that the creative world was right for you? Tell us how you got to where you are today.
I’ve never tried a world different from the creative one, so I’m kind of operating under the assumption that it’s the right one for me.
I got here by making uninformed life decisions and working very, very hard.
4.) In your constantly growing and expanding industry, how do you find inspiration to keep your work fresh, innovative and relevant?
I try to keep my eyes and ears open. Be in the soup. If I do that, life gives up the inspiration. In terms of relevance, that’s just about retaining a sense of empathy towards other humans at large. Developing sympathetic feelings around their problems and passions. Relating to people keeps you relevant.
5.) If you had to pick one piece of work or project that you are most proud of, more for the creative work and innovation it required, rather than its recognition or industry “success,” what would it be?
I’ll be proud when/if I can look back when I’m dying and say “I’m still glad I put all that shit into the world”.
