John McClave
Creative Director, Copywriter and Communication Strategist
 
Fresh out of an ivy league college with a degree in Romance Languages, and desperate for work in the thick of a recession, I took the first paying job offered to me – as the mailroom attendant in a small San Francisco ad agency. The CEO used to stand behind me as I sorted the mail, and when a check appeared he’d grab it.

Technology would eventually render the “mailboy” extinct. But I managed to parlay the experience into a varied, 20-plus-year career in advertising, marketing and corporate communications, broken only by a brief stint as a bilingual tour bus driver (that degree came in handy after all.)
 
 
For 12 of those years I held creative director posts at three agencies: Grey San Francisco, the SF office of London-based Citigate, and Thunder Factory. (I also ran the Citigate office for a year. The year, alas, was 2001, when the dot-com bust led to an exodus of global agencies from the Bay Area, mine included.)

In 2004, the shareholders and directors of JMc Communications unanimously elected me President. Now I am the one going through the mail looking for checks.

An integrated view comes naturally.
 
All the agencies I worked for would do just about anything to capture their clients’ marketing dollars, even the less glamorous collateral and direct mail along with the more prestigious media advertising. Today, that’s called “integrated marketing communications,” and I have never known anything else. I have written or supervised the creation of everything from print, broadcast and online campaigns to corporate videos, brochures, on- and offline direct, white papers, web content, annual reports and executive speeches. I have also worked extensively at the strategic end, helping clients define and articulate their objectives, targets, brand positioning, messages and communication vehicles.
 
If I learned anything in school, I learned how to learn. I catch on quickly to complex business propositions aimed at smart and discerning audiences. That is why I have been able to work with clients in a wide and eclectic range of categories – high finance, wine, technology, freight and logistics, food, health care, regional economic development, higher education and agriculture – just to name a few. That’s what I love about this job. You really do learn something new every day.
 
Thanks to the great clients and agency partners who have shown their trust and confidence with their repeat business and ongoing relationships. Join them at jmcclave@jmccom.com

For examples from our creative portfolio, click here.

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