Jim Jenkins

Jim Jenkins has a reputation for being one of the industry’s premier comedy directors, as well as one of its best visual storytellers. He has a particular knack for creating work that gets remembered. When Jim shot Martin Scorsese for the second time (in what turned out to be a Cannes Gold Lion-winning commercial for BBDO and AT&T), Scorsese told him that more people repeat lines to him from their first collaboration for American Express than they do from Scorsese’s own movies. Jim found this to be profoundly sad, believing that Goodfellas should probably have more cultural impact than a 30-second commercial. And more recently, Jim’s “Week of Greatness-All is Right” commercial for Foot Locker went viral for its hilarious take on all being made right (at least for one week) in the world of sports—for instance, Mike Tyson humbly returns Evander Holyfield’s ear, and Dennis Rodman buys a one-way ticket to North Korea, never to return.


In addition to AmEx, AT&T and Foot Locker, Jim has filmed for such clients as Snickers with three popular back-to-back Super Bowl spots: “Brady Bunch” (2015), “Marilyn” (2016) and the brand’s first live Super Bowl commercial in 2017 featuring Adam Driver. Jim directed Wieden + Kennedy New York’s “Famous Among Friends” campaign for Bud Light. The comedic campaign kicked off with “Between Friends” and includes “The Hero’s Return,” “Vendor,” “Banquet,” “Ye Olde Pep Talk” and others. The spots introduced the now trending “Dilly Dilly” toast into the conversation – Bud Light says there are 100,000 Google searches and 45,000 YouTube searches a week on the phrase. Other clients include Bud Light, Coke, BMW, FedEx, Virgin Atlantic, Land Rover, NFL, American Airlines, Sony and dozens more. Jim has been a Director’s Guild (DGA) nominee for Outstanding Commercial Director, and his work has won multiple D&AD awards, CLIOS and One Show Pencils, as well as AICP honors and Cannes Lions. Both Campaign and Creativity have named him one of the industry’s top directors.