Matt Bush’s resume describes him as a beard cultivator, improv chef, and Nike aficionado. Despite these ambitious claims, they are not even the most impressive parts of Bush’s resume.
Bush is a 2009 graduate of the advertising program in the College of Media and Communication. While at Texas Tech, Bush was involved with the Advertising Federation, where his team went all the way to national competition his senior year. Bush said the experience helped to prepare him for the real world.
“It took us, really, almost to spring break, which was pretty late in the game, to come up with an idea,” Bush said. “We spent that entire week up at school, slept in the basement, didn’t shower. It was fun!”
Matt Bush
After graduation, Bush helped his father work on some political campaigns in the Lubbock area, which helped to pay for his education. The next stop for Bush was Chicago. While there, he attended the Chicago Portfolio School. The portfolio helped him build up and display his copywriting skills, which is the creative aspect of advertising. Bush said he thinks having a portfolio is one of the most helpful tools for people looking to get into advertising.
“You know, I think having a book is the number one thing you gotta do,” Bush said. “I know at Tech it’s a little harder because you have classes you gotta do. When I went to portfolio school, I came here for a book, and that was it. You might be awesome and creative and blow everyone out of the water, but if you don’t have a book, you can’t do anything.”
Bush headed to San Francisco next. As an intern at advertising firm AKQA, Bush worked on some big campaigns, including car manufacturer Audi. While in California, Bush had the opportunity to work on a Super Bowl XLVII Bud Light commercial. Although the commercial was not picked, Bush said it was still a great feeling to produce something of that caliber.
Next, Bush headed back to the Windy City. He began a new adventure as a freelance copywriter for DDB Chicago. Safeway and McDonald’s are just some of the most notable clients of DDB. Bush worked on campaigns for McDonald’s McCafe division, with the message of the campaign suggesting that a McCafe in the afternoon is like a mini vacation.
The next six months of Bush’s life was spent interning at Leo Burnett in Chicago. This is where Bush made some of his favorite work. Insurance provider Allstate tasked the advertising firm with creating an interactive holiday advertisement, called Holiday Home Decorator. On the decorator, one can enter their home address and decorate for the holidays online. Bush said this project has been his favorite so far.
“It was my first project that I got to see from concept to completion,” Bush said. “Which is something you’re really proud of. Being so young and being a junior, you strive for those things. So, it was nice to get the recognition that we’re getting for it.”
Allstate’s Holiday Home Decorator from Leo Burnett Interactive on Vimeo.
Bush is not the only person who enjoyed this ad campaign. The interactive Holiday Home Decorator has been recognized for its excellence by the CLIO Awards, which is one of the highest honors in the advertising industry. While at Leo Burnett, Bush also worked on building the social media presence of one of Allstate’s most successful campaigns, Mayhem. In under a week, the chaos-inducing Mayhem had more than 10,000 followers on Twitter.
Bush said the common comparison of “Mad Men” to the real advertising industry is actually fairly accurate. Originally from the small town of Idalou, Texas, Bush said transitioning into the fast-paced lifestyle was difficult for him at first.
Working in advertising has its perks! A cooler at Cramer-Krasselt.
“You have those days when you want a beer at 3 o’ clock in the afternoon, so you go and have a beer at 3 o’ clock in the afternoon,” Bush said. “It’s a very open environment, and I think that’s how it has to be when it’s creative. You have to be able to balance a lot of things going on in your life.”
Bush is currently a freelance copywriter working with Cramer-Krasselt in Chicago. Some of the accounts he is working on include Corona, Panera Bread , and Patron Tequila. When he is not helping to create advertising works of art, Bush likes to create masterpieces in the kitchen. While in Chicago, Bush and a friend won K’s Dugout Meatball competition in 2012. Claiming to be a beard cultivator, Bush said he is better known for his facial hair than anything else.
“I’ve been growing a beard since I was probably 14,” Bush said. “When I was in San Francisco, we worked on a razor company, and they kept asking me, ‘Why don’t you shave your beard?’ And I would say, ‘It’s my brand!'”
Bush said he hopes to make his way back to the East Coast soon, and continues to love what he does. Although advertising can be a challenging industry, Bush said rejection is just part of the job.
“Working out in San Francisco on Bud Light, we kept coming out with these really great ideas, and the client was hesitant at first about some of the stuff we were doing,” Bush said. “There’s just that moment where you realize that you’re doing it right, it’s just some people have different opinions on it.”
To see more of Bush’s work, visit his website.
About Sarah Self-Walbrick
