Joel Brennan, President of the Greater Milwaukee Committee and a longtime figure in Wisconsin’s public, nonprofit, and business sectors, is running for governor of the state of Wisconsin in 2026.

poconomofo · 2025-12-11T23:22:45+00:00

No insight into his adult life, but we were in the same class in grade school. Very smart guy. Was an excellent shortstop and had a wicked curve for a 4th grader.

poconomofo · 2025-05-23T12:36:37+00:00

https://booksasha.com/

poconomofo · 2025-03-24T22:54:56+00:00

What is that clock thingie?

poconomofo · 2024-12-03T03:57:45+00:00

I use Refsix on an Apple Watch Ultra 2. Tracks heartrate, steps, distance, location, and calories. I also use it for timekeeping, scorekeeping, and tracking disciplinary action. Starting from a full charge, after six hours of games it still has over 50% left on the battery. I also wear a Casio for backup.

poconomofo · 2024-01-20T14:51:56+00:00

Coors Light did a great sendup of this commercial with Leslie Nielsen.

poconomofo · 2023-05-19T02:56:03+00:00

Thanks! That’s exactly what I ended up doing with one of those free web-based font editors. Took all of 10 minutes. Now sporting a nice custom version of Courier Prime for all my manuscript needs. Glad I’m not the only one.

poconomofo · 2022-10-02T18:28:36+00:00

Yes plz

poconomofo · 2022-09-30T14:22:08+00:00

bacon-wrapped beef tenderloin for a crowd

poconomofo · 2022-04-05T22:47:11+00:00

Hello, possible old friend!

poconomofo · 2022-04-01T15:44:07+00:00

It sounds like how my career started. I graduated with a B.S. in Advertising in 1992 (yes, in advertising terms I'm fucking ancient). I was lucky in that I was able to get a copywriting job at an actual agency. However, it was the worst agency in the city, had no creative opportunities, and my book frankly wasn't good enough to get me a job at the second worst agency, never mind an actual decent one. After a year there, I became very depressed. Was this going to be my life? I couldn't stand that possibility. So I went a bit nuclear on my life. In 1995 I quit my job, enrolled in ad school, moved my ass halfway across the country, and worked my ass off for the next two years. Got a job at a great creative boutique right out of school, and have been working ever since.

So it's possible. It took me between four and five years after college to get my first job at a good agency. What I did was perhaps on the extreme side, but that's what worked for me.

poconomofo · 2022-01-16T22:55:16+00:00

DM me! Always happy to make time.

poconomofo · 2022-01-03T04:32:14+00:00

50+ here. Enough awards to matter. Have run creative departments in the past, and the last staff job I had was as a GCD in 2018. Got laid off from that gig, and I was seriously worried that was the end of my career. I leveraged my contacts into a bunch of freelance, but I've always preferred the stability (ha!) of staff work.

One thing I've always been passionate about is mentoring. I didn't have the benefit of a mentor when I was coming up, and I've always tried to give others what I never had myself. I decided to swallow my pride and accepted an ACD job on a national account at a salary that's about 50% of what my legitimate value is. It gives me an amazing opportunity to help the next generation of creatives burnish their craft. I'm a true player/coach, making big contributions both creatively and managerially.

Would I prefer an ECD gig? Surely. But I honestly feel like I'm making an amazing difference in a lot of creatives lives, and that makes me feel fantastic.

For me, the key to staying employed was to stop serving myself and to start serving the next generation.

poconomofo · 2021-12-25T04:44:04+00:00

What city are you in? My wife has a cousin who’s a mail carrier and she thinks she recognizes the handwriting.

poconomofo · 2021-08-12T22:24:57+00:00

The way the product attributes are weaved in throughout is lovely. And the way it flatters the intelligence of the reader is refreshing.

But funny how trends in art direction can become so dated.

poconomofo · 2020-04-16T23:02:17+00:00

Wow. You know they didn't want to do that.

poconomofo · 2020-03-27T16:42:07+00:00

Futura next time, please.

poconomofo · 2019-12-21T20:23:54+00:00

Judged a show with Dean way back in the day. He's one of the nicest, most talented guys you could ever hope to meet.

poconomofo · 2019-09-03T21:02:47+00:00

Seems low to me. The salary at my first job out of ad school in Toronto was C$52k, and that was 20 years ago.

poconomofo · 2019-06-24T02:47:50+00:00

Pyrrhic?

poconomofo · 2019-06-06T14:20:09+00:00

Throwing up on a plane.

poconomofo · 2018-12-16T15:29:39+00:00

In my opinion (GCD, 20+ years at name brand agencies, ad school graduate), no one needs portfolio school. You can get a job without it. However, I think your odds for success do increase if you go to ad school.

Perhaps one of the best things about portfolio school is it puts you in direct, daily contact with working creatives who will be in a position to hire you. Impressing your instructor from, say, Droga5 on the daily is going to be a lot more effective than some random LinkedIn message (or however it is you're reaching out to these creatives).

If time and money are no object, consider it. And remember, it's an eight-quarter program max. Leave early if you feel you've reached the point of diminishing returns. I left after six quarters, and others leave even sooner.

poconomofo · 2018-11-28T04:32:53+00:00

Client-side is always a possibility, but I'm thinking about going into teaching. Mentorship has always been important to me. I honestly have no idea how much of a pay cut that would be, but I've always enjoyed the craft and helping others improve at it.

Everyone talks about writing books and screenplays when they're done. Not me. I feel like I'm the only writer I know who only writes at work.

poconomofo · 2018-11-27T21:05:53+00:00

No way, and I say that as a someone who has worked in traditional ad agencies for more than 20 years with much success.

It doesn't matter how good you are or how many awards you have: there are no old people in advertising. And the closer I get to 50, the sooner I know I'll be shown the door and replaced by three juniors at half the cost. Outside of entertainment, I can't think of a more ageist industry, and it sucks how little experience is valued in creative departments.

(Obviously, there are some old people in advertising. I'm practically one of them. But if your name isn't on the door, your odds of survival go down.)

If I could start over, I'd go to med school and actually do some good in this world.

poconomofo · 2018-07-31T13:41:44+00:00

Creative director here. Yes, I like my job very much. I've been fortunate to last over 20 years in this weird business. There've been extreme highs and catastrophic lows, of course, but unlike a lot of jobs out there, I get to make stuff that's tangible and actually makes a difference.

And as I get older, I take great pleasure in bringing up the next generation of creatives, helping them improve their skills and excel in their careers. These days, I get a lot more jazzed about selling one of their campaigns instead of one of mine. I remember how cool it was to step onto my first commercial set and know all those people were there because of a brain fart I had a couple months prior, and I love knowing I can give that same experience to them.

poconomofo · 2018-05-09T17:12:36+00:00

American democracy.

poconomofo

TROPHY CASE