Breaking and Entering Advertising Podcast #494 - Mark Fitzloff | He Spent 20 Years At Wieden+Kennedy
Oct 1, 2025
Mark Fitzloff, a veteran creative leader with 20 years at Wieden+Kennedy, founded Portland's Opinionated, known for transforming brands like Nike and Old Spice. He shares the pitch that saved Old Spice by embracing its age with humor instead of erasing it. Mark advocates for simplicity in creativity and discusses how to find insights through personal connections. He offers advice on breaking into advertising, highlighting the importance of networking and distinctive portfolios that showcase individual voice.
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Find The Human Truth First
- Approach brand problems like a human: strip away jargon and ask what the brand means to real people.
- Use that simple human truth as the springboard for a single, clear creative idea.
Research Can Mislead, Personal Experience Helps
- Research settings often force artificial answers and can mislead creative insight.
- Rely on personal, lived experience with a brand as the more reliable shortcut to truth.
Working Both Sides Of Rival Brands
- Opinionated landed Adidas early and used competing-brand experience to win work.
- Mark describes this as a fortunate situation of working both sides of rival global brands.
