Ad 2 Madison Viral Marketing Event Recap

On November 17, AAF-Madison and Ad 2 Madison welcomed Dennis Ryan, Chief Creative Officer for Element 79 in Chicago. Ryan has dreamed up winning ideas for the world’s best known brands including Budweiser, Gatorade, Frito Lay, Discover Card, Miller Brewing, Kraft, Nestle, Nabisco, Blockbuster and Northwestern Mutual. In his AAF-sponsored luncheon presentation "Engagement is the New Black:  Moving from push to pull to something far, far better,” Ryan explained why inciting interaction is a necessity in advertising campaigns today and how viral marketing can be used to create engaging experiences for audiences. The speaker also shared examples of successful viral videos his firm has created, including spots for Gatorade, Tostitos and Harris Bank. Ryan later presented more viral marketing tips, tricks and tactics to an intimate audience during the Ad 2-sponsored breakout session.

 

 

Dennis has been making stuff up in Chicago for nearly twenty-five years. First as a copywriter for Needham Harper and Steers, eventually as the ECD of J. Walter Thompson and now as the Chief Creative Officer of Element 79, he has dreamed up ideas for the world’s best known brands including Budweiser, Gatorade, Frito Lay, Discover Card, Miller Brewing, Kraft, Nestle, Nabisco, Blockbuster and Northwestern Mutual. His enormous and contagious enthusiasm for this work no doubt stems from the fact that he earns a paycheck despite having graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1984 with not one but two highly unsalable majors in Art and English.

As a creative leader, Dennis draws from his own extensive experience in top level radio and television production, including more than two dozen Super Bowl appearances, to help foster gold standards for the work. He has also led E79’s transition from these traditional creative disciplines into the world of social networks, viral videos, user generated content and online gaming.

Primarily focused on building the business, Dennis also strives to foster a vibrant agency culture. In 2004, he helped launch the first annual E79 Film Festival, encouraging employees from every department to produce a film. Every February 28^th, on the agency’s “Founder’s Day,” he conducts a contest where cross-discipline teams make highly creative presentations of their work to the agency. In the past, winners earned a trip to the Cannes Advertising Festival, but recently, they went to Edinburgh for Scotland’s largest Performing Arts Festival: The Fringe. All of which reflects his favorite quality in creative thinkers: curiosity.

He has been married to Maureen since graduating from college, and enjoys his two daughters Zoe and Grace, all while maintaining avid off-the-job interests in dogs, boats and good water pressure.