Credentials and philosophies are important. But so are personalities. After all, if you choose Mortar, you'll be seeing a lot of us. Here are a few of the people you'll be sharing the lifeboat with.
A South-London Brit and world-renowned crawdad fisherman, Mark is Mortar's resident account guy and brand strategist.
With a solid 16 years of marketing and advertising experience under his belt, Mark enjoys reminiscing about the old days when Amazon was still a river in South America and people bought their records in record stores. He also enjoys telling impressionable youngsters that he worked on Apple, Yahoo and eBay before those companies were cool.
Mark's career spans several continents, numerous zip codes and an array of top agencies. His accounts have included Century 21, Warner Bros. Studio Stores, TJ Maxx and Rydex Investments.
When he's not working, Mark watches "The Sound of Music" with his wife and three daughters, often singing the part of Gretl in a convincing falsetto. He secretly dreams of England's Return to World Cup glory.
Todd's real name is Christopher and he used to be a rock star.
Although his band, Eidolon, developed a remarkably loyal following in remote areas of Belgium, Todd gave up music to pursue his true artistic calling-making pretty ads. Fortunately, his CD Sanctuary is still available at Amazon (or check the 99¢ bin at Virgin).
Todd began his career at Dinisco Design Partnership in Boston, moved on to the late great Technique Magazine (as well as various Boston-area agencies), and became the youngest Creative Director in the history of Omnicom's Bernard Hodes Advertising. He was then lured to New York City to become Regional Creative Director at TMP Worldwide.
Todd is a self-proclaimed technology junky and design purist. Stop by our office to hear his two lectures: "Understanding I.T. Doesn't Make Me An Egghead" and "The Lost Art of Kerning."
In his spare time, Todd hones his short game at local driving ranges and dreams that one day Prada will make golf shoes. Although Todd eats almost exclusively at In-N-Out Burger, he occasionally throws caution to the wind and ventures out for a Spicy Tuna Roll.
Tim shares Todd's appreciation of fine footwear, and is the sworn enemy of ellipses and exclamation points everywhere.
After spending the early 90s hawking fried chicken and American cars as a young copywriter at Bentley, Barnes & Lynn in Chicago, Tim jumped on the technology bandwagon and headed west to work on Microsoft. Since then, he's added his patented no-wax shine to a bevy of little known brands including Apple, Sony, Adobe, Yahoo and Nike.
Tim helped launch Austin Knight's Interactive group back in aught-six, helped introduce account planning at TMP Worldwide a few years later, and was promoted to Regional Creative Director. While working on the U.S. Naval Reserve account, Tim learned the best way to avoid decapitation when exiting a downed helicopter.
When he isn't proclaiming the evils of The designated hitter, he spends his time writing Brazilian soap operas and hiding his wife's Indigo Girls CDs. Tim's mom still believes he's saving for law school.
Vikki Garrod is a true believer. Not a true believer in the "chase-you-down-the-street-wearing- nothing-but-a-sandwich-board-demanding-the-immediate-resignation-of-the-King-of-Belgium-for- beaming-messages-into-her-molars"-way, but more in the "Hey-let's-not-do-advertising-that-sucks"- way. Between years of fighting the good fight at advertising behemoths like J. Walter Thompson, Euro RSCG, McCann-Erickson and Grey, she's traveled the world, started companies of her own, and seen Katie Couric naked. Yes, really. Vikki has provided groundbreaking strategic direction for an incredibly prestigious list of clients from Dell to Chevron to Symantec to Diageo.
Vikki adds unparalleled passion and intellect to the art of strategic planning and an entirely new dimension to the way we all watch the CBS Evening News.
We're not saying Renata is a ruthless businesswoman, and we're certainly not saying she's a feared enforcer for an outlaw biker gang, because saying something like that could get our legs broken and we've got great legs. We are, however, telling you she's one tough cookie. How tough? Remember the Great Dot-Com Purge of 2000? The one where we all took an unplanned, unpaid vacation? Renata kept her job. At an ad agency. See? See? We're scared, too. Just don't make any sudden moves, meet all her deadlines, and no one gets hurt. Renata joins Mortar from Carat Fusion where she worked on Kodak Easy Share Gallery, Kodak Mobile Services and Network Appliance. Prior to joining Carat Fusion, Renata worked at Maiden Lane, Inc. on fully integrated marketing campaigns for clients including: Chevys, Comdex, Rolling Hills Casino, the San Francisco Examiner, and Stoneridge Shopping Center.
Although family influence got most of the indictments quashed, the scandal surrounding his failed lobster obedience school has forced Hugh Gurin to return to a career in copywriting. Hugh has earned boxcars full of awards for clients like Boeing, Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard, Kaiser Permanente, Macy's, Northrop-Grumman, PeopleSoft, and the United States Naval Reserve, yet he has consistently restrained himself from proclaiming "You like me! You really, really like me!" Hugh holds a B.A. in Communication Arts from the University of West Florida, and a Ph.D. in Lobster Obedience Training from L'Ecole Des Homards in Tijuana, Mexico. He is usually found floating off San Francisco, California, at least 200 yards away from any lobsters, in accordance with the terms of his restraining order.
You can trust Hugh to do wonders for your brand. Just don't leave him alone with your aquatic pets.
David Myatt has no business being in advertising. He's far too talented. We should all be sitting in a gallery somewhere, drinking boxed wine and talking about how we knew him when. Seriously, the guy's a fine artist, cursed with the brain of a marketer. That's the good news. The bad news? He can't spell. At all. Ask him to type "dog" three times and you'd probably end up with "cat." Even then, he'd probably spell it "kat." Thankfully, David doesn't have to know how to spell. He's an art director, and a darn good one. David's career began in 1990. He's worked for agencies from Detroit to Los Angeles to San Diego, selling everything from healthcare to aerospace. He's led creative teams, developed national campaigns and won more awards than any of us can remember. But what we like best about him is his ability to not only keep a cool head, but talk everyone around him off the proverbial ledge at the same time. When David speaks, people listen. When they see his work, they jump for joy. Then they say, "That's not how you spell "'dog.'"
One of the first things you’ll notice about Chris Inclenrock? He likes his food thrown to him. No, he’s not a trained seal, he’s just a baseball fan, and flying hot dogs, garlic fries, Cha-Cha bowls and the like give him that happy Pablo Sandoval Bobblehead Night feeling. (You’ll notice we did not mention any flying "produce," "granola," or anything else that might be construed as “healthy,” as he ate enough organic garbanzo beans while following the Grateful Dead to last a lifetime. At least he thinks that’s what they were.)
Chris is also a talented illustrator, chef, and of course, interactive designer, who’s done outstanding web work for clients including: AirMe, Bella Pictures, DC Comics, Eyeblaster, Francis Ford Coppola Presents, Golden Gate University, Isilon Systems, Joby, LucasArts, Lucasfilm, Marvel Comics, Matrix Partners, Nintendo of America, Paramount Studios, Playa Viva, Rubicon Estate Winery, Rydex, St. Mary's Medical Center, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, Vemo and many more.
