If you're looking for James Clunie (20 March 1889 – 25 February 1974), the boring British Labour Party politician who in 1950 was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Dunfermline Burghs, serving until his retirement in 1959, you have come to the wrong place.
But if you're looking for James Clunie - the advertising person - who has actually done something with his life? BINGO.
I’m a Freelance Creative Director with 20+ years experience working for small, start-up agencies and mega-huge agencies in New York, Boston, and Minneapolis. I'm also the creator and writer of the parenting parody newspaper/blog, The Parenteer (theparenteer.com).
Some of the places I’ve freelanced: Barton F. Graf, Mischief, Wieden + Kennedy, Droga, Goodby, Crispin, Adam & Eve, Johannes Leonardo, Netflix, Apple, JWT (now Wunderman), BBDO (NY and LA), RGA, McCann (NY), McCann (London), Grey, 360i, Dentsu, Martin Agency, Doe Anderson, Mullen, Mother, Strawberry Frog, Deutsch, Translation, HUGE, TBWA/Chiat Day, Leo Burnett, Arnold, Publicis, FCB, DDB, SS&K, O+M, VMLY&R (NY and London), HHCC, BBH and 1 other one.
Before freelancing, I spent nine years at BBDO in New York, rising to EVP/Senior Creative Director. There, I worked on HBO, AT&T, FedEx, eBay, Chrysler (Smart Car and Dodge), Havaianas flip flops, The Economist, Twix, Foot Locker, Best Buy, Red Stripe, The Special Olympics, and many others.
Prior to that, I spent four years at Carmichael Lynch in Minneapolis, and before that, six years at a small start-up agency in Boston that no longer exists (not my fault). I’ve worked in virtually every category over the course of my career, and won gold at all the big shows (One Show, Cannes, New York Art Directors Club, Andy Awards, Clios). I’ve also served on the juries of D&AD (three times), The One Show, The Clios, New York Art Directors Club, The Boston Hatch Awards, The Minneapolis "Show", The Canadian Advertising Awards, and Communication Arts.
In 2009, I was listed as the most awarded art director in the US, according to "The Big Won," which tallies performance at all the big shows, and was named as a "designer to watch" in Graphic Design USA magazine. Also that year, I was featured as a "Creative To Know" (along with partner Kara Goodrich), in the last-ever issue of Creativity Magazine. Remember Creativity Magazine?
I live in New York with my wife Lisa (co-founder of the agency JOAN), and two kids - Jimmy and Marcelle.
BIO 2:
I started out with one of the worst first advertising jobs in the history of advertising jobs. My “office” (yes, I had an office) had a very sticky floor, which I later learned was because it had been the spray-mount booth before I arrived. At this agency, which I’m still too ashamed to name, I primarily worked on the Seldane allergy medicine account. Seldane was taken off the market soon after I started working on it because it apparently killed people. Whoops. When I resigned from this job, (one year to the day after I started) my boss, John Hegquist, looked at me and said “You still fucking work here?!”
From there I went to an even worse job at an agency located in an office park in Whippany, NJ. I would take the bus from Port Authority every morning with 50 crabby Jamaican women who all got off (and worked at) the same hospital. This job was terrible and I got fired because I was terrible but also, I suspect, for making fun of my boss’s mustache, which was terrible (and uneven).
I eventually moved back to Boston (where I’m from) and worked for a little start up that wasn’t too bad, and then moved to Minneapolis where I worked for a good agency and improved somewhat. Next, I moved back to NYC where I was one of the first few hires in Gerry Graf’s new group at BBDO. After he resigned, I worked for Eric Silver and, eventually, Greg Hahn and David Lubars. I do the best impression of David Lubars. It’s very accurate and not flattering at all.
I’m now a freelance CD (AD turned writer, but occasionally freelance as an AD still. It’s confusing.) That’s it. Email me at info@theparenteer.com if you need freelance.
Thanks.
CONTACT : info@theparenteer.com / 917-573-0116