Jim Othmer
Not your typical career path.
I've ghost-tweeted for CEOs, written cover copy for Harlequin romances & written a film called Advanced Gallbladder Surgery Techniques.
I’ve been an ECD on global brands including Dell, KFC, Citi, Danone, AT&T and Accenture.
I've also been a humble yet prolific freelance creative for dozens of brands including, Anheuser Busch, Panasonic, GM, Liberty Mutual, Verizon, Subway, Conduent, Microsoft, & the NHL.
I’ve won a National Magazine Award for Fiction & an Effie.
As Global ECD on Dell I led brand, consumer, B2B, DR, mobile, retail and digital work in more than a dozen markets with countless partner agencies. As a freelancer I've written, CDd & produced numerous affordable, compelling films for global brands, with a B2B emphasis.
I’m the author of the novels HOLY WATER and THE FUTURIST (Doubleday). ADLAND: Searching for the Meaning of Life on a Branded Planet (Doubleday) was a Fast Company Business Book of the Year. I also wrote the thriller THE LAST TRADE (Dutton), as James Conway, (Dutton). My essays, stories & reviews have appeared in Forbes, Esquire, The Washington Post, NPR, Salon, The Daily Beast, WSJ and The New York Times Op-Ed page.
Not your typical career path. But every stop along the way has made me better at every stop that followed.
I don’t have a lot in common with my brother. I am a novelist and an at-large advertising creative director. He’s a stonemason and a recently retired New York City Firefighter. He’s a tall, physically imposing man and I am…not. When we discuss our professions his stories are invariably more interesting and rarely does a common theme emerge between us. However, near the end of his time on the FDNY he told me a story that, while radically different than anything I encountered in advertising, was surprisingly, finally, relatable.