Originally from Oklahoma, Matt came to advertising in 1995 after studying film and economics at the University of Chicago. Matt began his career at Leo Burnett in Chicago, and then moved on to New York to join the creative shop Cliff Freeman and Partners and later BBH New York, where he developed the global strategy for the Johnnie Walker “Keep Walking” campaign.
In 2005, Matt arrived in San Francisco at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners to become the Deputy Director of the Brand Strategy group, building memorable campaigns for many brands; most famously, the Hyundai “Think About It” campaign and “Assurance” promotion. Matt left GSP to become the North American Chief Strategy Officer at McCann, and shortly after joined BBDO SF as the Director of Strategy, building a diverse strategy group and a thriving agency in his four years there.
Matt has lectured and taught account planning at the 4A’s Account Planning Group, the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, Miami Ad School, Golden Gate University, and the San Francisco Academy of Art. Matt’s efforts have yielded 8 Gold Effies for the effectiveness of his campaigns, a Gold Jay Chiat Award for outstanding account planning, and a Gold Cannes Lion for Branded Content.