Radical. Creative. Smart. Passionate. Experienced. It's the stuff digital innovators are made of, and an apt group of keywords to describe Steve Coulson.
Coulson has more than 12 years' experience as a digital creative director, leading campaigns for Fortune 100 companies at New York agencies such as McCann-Erickson, iXL/Scient, crayon, and JWT. In 2007, he co-founded The Advance Guard, a new media consultancy that creates radical marketing programs using disruptive technologies, community platforms, and social media. This includes planning and executing custom Facebook and MySpace initiatives; executing Influencer Outreach programs and events; building social and alternate reality games; and creating narrative and promotional content that utilizes everything from immersive video experiences to 140 character text updates.
When Coulson unleashes his creativity, it is a truly amazing thing to watch. He is a master of reaching for the sky of possibilities while keeping the ideas grounded enough to become reality and be successful. It is a lot of fun to work side by side with that kind of talent every day."
- C.C. Chapman
- Partner, The Advance Guard
As a testament to the inspiration Coulson and his team are able to generate, consider their recent campaign for Verizon Fios' MyHome 2.0, which included a demonstration on how to take an old animatronic teddy bear and connect it with online microblogging service Twitter. "Twittering Teddy" did more than just promote a product -- it gained national prominence; was featured on Gizmodo, Engadget, and BoingBoing; raised the interest of influencers such as Chris Pirillo; and provoked hundreds of comments on Twitter.
Coulson is also the founder and editor of YesButNoButYes.com, a pop culture blog that began with a handful of bored advertising copywriters. Over time, the site gained more and more followers and commenters, and now more than half a million entertainment-seeking readers stop by each month to catch up on the latest internet meme or hot new trend.
Follow Coulson on Twitter at @SteveCoulson.
