About Bret Stout

Chances Are, You've Felt the
Impact of Bret Stout' Work...

Have you ever uttered the phrase, "Reach out and touch someone"? Have you ever ordered a pizza online? Did you switch from dial up modem to DSL because you perceived it to be fast? Did you ever try a Diet Coke Plus because you believed it was "a great thing made even better"? Have you ever gone online to get an auto insurance quote? Ever bypass the ticket counter and use the eTicket machine to board your airline? Ever download a widget to remind you to take your meds? Did you ever choose a pair of Reeboks over the more popular Nike brand? Have you ever booked a Norwegian Cruise because you knew you wouldn't be treated like a 'robot'? Ever use a touch-enable Blackberry or HP touchscreen?

Well if you answered 'yes' to any of these questions, then you have experienced the impact of what Bret can do for a brand - forever changing the way you see and access the world around you. This is why he was referred to as "The Brand Unflattener" by one of his clients years ago.

Adventure - Bizarre - Unexpected - Born in Los Angeles and raised in Orange County, he grew up entrenched in the wonder of Walt Disney. His first school, Walter Knott Elementary, was located on the same property as Knott's Berry Farm and across the street from Alligator Farm and back when an 'E-Ticket' meant something. Growing up saturated by things that kids only dream about, he grew up thinking every kid's life was the same - a life that was all about adventure, the bizarre and the unexpected.

"Yes, anything is possible." - Bret Stout

A Formal Education: Southern Methodist University SMU - Bachelor of Business Administration, Marketing;
University of Missouri - Undergraduate, Business, Marketing and Psychology.

The Most Important Thing I Learned About Advertising: "Being in the ad business for nearly thirty years, I always find those creatives and account service folks who get extremely frustrated when the client 'craps on' (their reference) the creative the first time you present your big ideas. This only shows their inexperience to the process. The process is made up of two very important parts - PART 1: A) client assigns the agency a project, B) agency develops strategy and creative to meet the client's objectives, C) agency presents creative to client, D) client reviews the creative and gives their feedback. Now this is where 'real' advertising pros step in – PART 2: E) agency goes back and looks at what the client has asked for and decides what to push back on and what to concede on, F) agency figures out a way to integrate the client requests and make the creative even better than the frst round, G) agency presents new creative to client and the client is very pleased and signs off on the creative. The inexperienced will throw their hands up after Part 1 and deliver bad creative (this is what the client asked for - right? WRONG). Part 2 is where real advertising begins.

The "Big Idea" is always the simple one: "Early in my career I realized it was the 'simple' ideas that had the most impact. So many people in this industry try too hard to develop the big idea campaign - making a spot 'work too hard' to accomplish the intended objective. Keep it simple. Keep it pure.", Bret says. "But it isn't always easy to come up with the simple - coming up with that big idea that can change a brand takes hard work - and the ironic thing is when you do come up with that wonderful big and simple idea, others think what you created was easy. Anything but. It's all about experience, knowledge and creativity."