All the details.
Hill Holliday
EVP, Group Creative Director, May 2022 - April 2024
Clients: Frontier Communications, Valvoline, The Zebra, Santander Bank, Capella University, Strayer University, Exiger, Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism, American Lung Association
Business growth: Helped pitch and win Frontier, Valvoline, The Zebra, Exiger, and the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism (yep, all written by a New Yorker!)
Freelance
Droga5, SpecialGuest, 1stAve Machine, Crafted, Stink Studios, Vitro, Havas, Edelman, February 2020-Present
Ogilvy & Mather
Group Creative Director, July 2017 - January 2020
Clients: IBM
Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners
Executive Creative Director, Nov. 2015 - Nov. 2016
Group Creative Director, Feb. 2013 - Oct. 2015
Creative Director, March 2010 - Jan. 2013
Associate Creative Director, Jan. 2007 - Feb. 2010
Clients: BMW, Windstream Communications, Monster, TE Connectivity, NASDAQ OMX, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, Armani Jeans, Vera Wang
Business growth: Work that began on BMW digital in 2007 built organic growth and helped land the full account in 2010; Creative lead for the BMW ActiveE pitch; Creative lead for the TE Connectivity pitch; Creative co-lead for the Monster pitch; Grew Windstream from a single assignment to the full consumer account, full small business account and website account.
FCB
Associate Creative Director, June 2006 - Dec. 2006
Sr. Copywriter, July 2003 - May 2006
Clients: Motorola, ONDCP, Diet Coke, Qwest Communications
Author
Chasing Ghosts (Quirk Books) - September 2021
The Big Book of Mars (Quirk Books) - July 2020
The Embalmed Head of Oliver Cromwell: A Memoir (Curious Publications) - July 2015
The Anti-Social Network Journal (Knock Knock) - June 2014
God Made Me Do It (Sourcebooks) - March 2010, Optioned for TV in May 2014
American Sideshow (Penguin/Tarcher) - Nov. 2005
Found on eBay (Rizzoli/Universe) - May 2002
Backwash (self-published zine) - 1995 - 2003
Journalist
Campaign, November 29, 2019
WeirdHistorian.com - 2016-now
Mental Floss contributor, 2017-2018
Huffington Post Weird News columnist, 2011-2017
AOL Weird News contributor, Nov. 2009 - April 2011
Bizarre contributor, 2000-2011
Bearded Lady Booking Agent
Vivian Wheeler, Guinness World Record holder for having the longest beard on any living woman, has named me her booking agent for all appearances. Jan. 2014-now.
Awards
Cannes, One Show, D&AD, Communication Arts, Clio, Art Directors Club, Isaac Awards, Archive, London International Awards, Addys, Obie Awards, Effies, NY Festivals, Webbys, MIXX Awards, W3, Creativity Magazine Awards, WebAward, Telly, Internet Advertising Competition
Judging
Obie Awards: 2015 (Judge and Co-Emcee of the Awards Gala)
The Webby Awards, Associate Academy: 2016, 2015, 2014
Tomorrow Awards, Industry Judging: 2013
IAB MIXX Awards, Screening Committee: 2014, 2013
New York Festivals, Grand Jury: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015
Midas Awards, Grand Jury: 2012
The Show, Ad Fed Minnesota: 2012
Banff World Media Festival, Digital Launch Pad: 2012
Public Speaking & Television/Podcast Appearances
The UnXplained - ”The Weird Wild West” / Season 4, Episode 20
The History Channel, December 2, 2022
Grey Towers, Milford, PA
November 13, 2022
Halloween Fright Night, HistFest
October 31, 2022
Peculiar Book Club
October 27, 2022
Stardust Festival, Cochrane, Ontario
August 4, 2022
Humans to Mars Summit, Washington, DC
May 18, 2022
Coney Island’s Congress of Curious Peoples
Keynote Speaker, April 1, 2022
New York Comic Con - Panelist: “Greater Than Fiction: Real Life Stories of Tragedy and Triumph!” Oct. 10, 2021
Hysteria 51 - Episode 258 - September 27, 2021
Last Podcast on the Left - August 17, 2021
Jobsolete Podcast: Featured expert on Season 1, Episode 11: “Stone Eaters”, March 2021
Planetfest '21 - "A Conversation: Why I Make Up Stories About Mars" discussion panel with Kim Stanley Robinson, Andy Weir, and Mat Kaplan, February 2021
Explore Mars Webinar - A Conversation about The Big Book of Mars with Joe Cassady (Executive Director, Space, Aerojet Rocketdyne), February 2021
The Other Side of Midnight with Richard Hoagland, August 9, 2020
Edge of Reality Radio with Lee Speigel, July 9, 2020
Project Archivist: Episode 330 (Sept. 2020) and Episode 280 (November 2018)
Morbid Anatomy Museum's Festival of Arcane Knowledge, May 2019
McDaniel College: lecture in conjunction with the Visions of the Circus exhibit, October 2017
Symposium Series: The Science of Sideshow, May 2017
Mütter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Oct. 2016
Brooklyn Historical Society, April 2016
Coney Island Museum, Dec. 2015
Morbid Anatomy Museum, 2015 (Aug, Nov.)
Obie Awards Co-Emcee, 2015
SXSW 2015: "Keeping Paper Alive in the Digital Age"
Barnes & Noble (multiple locations): 2010, 2015
The Travel Channel's Mysteries at the Museum, Season 7, Episode 7, 2014: "Missile Mailbox"
The Maury Show, 2010
The Brian Lehrer Show - WNYC, Dec. 10, 2002 and Jan. 1, 2003
CNN with Jeanne Moos, 2002
MSNBC: The Jerry Nachman Show, 2002
Education
Syracuse University (Newhouse)
Skills
Word, Photoshop, some InDesign, Keynote, pens, pencils, juggling, unicycling
A few references.
Marc did a number of diverse and challenging projects with me, from big budget television to interactive mobile films to a mission to put people back on the moon (…sort of). He’s both a talented writer and tenacious creative, never accepting that something can’t be done and questioning how it might be done better. If that’s not enough, anyone who has won big on Wheel Of Fortune, set a Guinness World Record and wrote a book on Mars is worth your consideration.
- Jeff Curry, Executive Creative Director at Ogilvy & Mather
I worked with Marc Hartzman for over three years when I was Executive Creative Director and Copy Chief on the IBM account at Ogilvy & Mather. There's a lot I can say about Marc--all of it positive. First, it's hard finding writers for a complex technology account like IBM. You have to be able to get smart and write simply about some of the most complex and cutting edge technology in the world. Within a month of hiring Marc to work on IBM's Watson Artificial Intelligence, I could tell Marc had real intelligence. He learned not only the brand's voice but the details of the very complex product. Marc can talk about complicated ideas and make understanding them simple. That's hard.
Marc is also a superior researcher. He questions briefs, does his own digging and works hard to uncover interesting ideas. You not only see that in his adverting work, you see it as well in the books and blogs and podcasts he creates. Everything from a history of Oliver Cromwell's brain to life on Mars to oddly hairy women.
Marc is also a kind person. A mentor to young creatives. A hard worker. And reliable as the sunrise.
You should hire Marc before someone else does.
- George Tannenbaum, former Copy Chief and ECD on IBM at Ogilvy, writer of AdAged.com
Professionally, he is accomplished, a thought leader and respected by his teams. His ideas are endless due to his ability to listen, innovate and collaborate with broader teams. It is very rare for a creative to work as long as he did on one account and continue to push the boundaries and the brand to do more, better and win awards. 57 to be exact. His patience to see through ideas is endless. He is a leader and a doer.
- Katie Klumper, founder of Black Glass, former President of Kbs