Ryan Kutcher: The Roller Coaster of a Career in Ad-Land - Founder of Circus Maximus

Ryan is the Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Circus Maximus, an award-winning agency that on average helps its partners grow more than 300% per year. Ryan is an ad-land veteran, launching some of the most successful campaigns out there, which earned him the title of being a three-time Grand Prix winner at the Cannes Advertising Festival—for Method, Volkswagen, and Burger King.

Before starting Circus Maximus, he worked with Crispin, Porter + Bogusky, as well as J. Walter Thompson’s. He cut his teeth as a creative director there, and the last ten years have been history in the making at Circus Maximus.

This Episode’s Heavy-hitter’s:

Ryan’s introduction to the world of advertising was by chance when he received a generic email about a new college course and decided to check it out. When he got there, and the instructor told him that in advertising, you “make sh*t up and sell it” Ryan’s interest was piqued, and he was ironically “sold.”

He got his first internship and did great, but in order to be hired full time he was told he needed a portfolio. Since he had no prior work experience, his only option to create a true portfolio was to go to portfolio school (which luckily for Ryan was in Miami!)

His first job in advertising was for $35K a year, and he basically got it because the salary was so low and his work had been good enough during the internship that they decided to just give him a shot.

Later down the line, while working at an agency called JWT, he was basically talked into starting his own agency. It was because the agency wouldn’t accept a startup client as they said they were “not that type of agency.” So, Ryan decided to start his own and take on those clients himself.

One of the things that made Ryan believe he could start his own agency was that he recognized the ad industry as “one high-stakes game of make-believe.” If you believe in your point of view and can sell it, you have as much ability to be successful as anyone does.

For more on Ryan and his agency, check out https://www.circusmaximus.com/

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