This week I started a new position at Young & Rubicam advertising in New York that I’m really excited about. I’m the agencies first-ever Creative Culturalist. So, the obvious question is: What exactly will you be doing?

The answer in :30 seconds or less:

I’ll be working across accounts as well as on internal projects and new business, providing insight and thoughts on how people engage with and create culture and how brands can tap into that in meaningful ways.

The longer version:

Y&R - My new home

I’ve had a varied career, working at PR agencies as well as a digital advertising agency and I’ve held a variety of roles. I’ve been fortunate enough to work on great brands like MasterCard, Johnny Walker, Gillette, Sony Ericsson, Burger King, Guinness and General Mills. But whether it’s been via PR or Social Media, I’ve always tried to explore how brands can truly resonate with people. Over the last couple of years I found it tougher to look at the ‘consumer profiles’ that clients were giving me because they often reduced thousands (millions?) of possible customers down to three or four key attributes.  But not all tequila drinkers, or urban Gen Xers, or Mom Bloggers think the same way, or have the same needs.  I started trying to solve these puzzles by looking at culture. What was happening out there? What were people saying, doing or creating?

That’s what I hope to bring to Y&R, a viewpoint on culture that helps the agency address the needs of the client. It’s going to be a bit different every time out. For some clients, I’ll lean on my PR background a bit, and on others it will be my experience in Social Media.  I’ve always been very adaptive and feel that this role will allow me to play to my strengths.

In 2009 I was recognized by Grant McCracken as a potential candidate in his book, Chief Culture Officer.  Grant has done some really great thinking in this area and has been a real guiding light for me. Some other folks I’ll be looking to, not so much as peers, but perhaps as contemporaries, are Bud Caddell at Deutsch LA. Bud was recently named their Invention Strategist. Barbara Lippert, who earlier this year took on the position of Curator of Pop Culture at Goodby, Silverstein. And Saneel Radia, head of BBH Labs. These are all tremendously talented people that I respect, all working at well established, honored agencies. Within these agencies they are taking on roles that are non-traditional in one form or another. I’m sure there are others as well. It’s exciting to be part of something as well known as Y&R, and thrilling to be able to help them plot a new course during these interesting times for the industry.

Ultimately, advertising is about telling stories. What matters is how they are told, and the context in which they are told. The Creative Culturalist works to align the story, the medium and the context to create something compelling.

This is a new adventure, I hope I can share my experiences with you and that you’ll find it interesting. Let me know if you have any questions.

Tags: ad agency titles, creative culturalist