John Hollywood

Ideas that matter

John has never believed in “marketing to.” He practices “marketing with.” For the past ten years, he’s eschewed paint-by-numbers PR initiatives to engage consumers in co-authorship of campaigns that feel authentically their own. To John, all consumer marketing is experiential marketing. And all consumers ought to be brand evangelists. He credits his obsessively optimistic POV to working with an insane mix of some of the best loved brands on the planet: The Rolling Stones, M&Ms, Mercedes Benz and Chivas Regal, among them.

Bold brand work

Whether tackling the launch of a new candy color or a pressing global health issue, John approaches each client challenge with the same initial question: “What are we really trying to do here?” His personal quest is to get at the “why” that makes the difference. To his enrichment, the “whys” he’s discovered along the way have been wildly divergent, but always linked in some way to making life better. For a current and key client, Walmart, making life better is a direct link to the founder’s vision. But for others, it’s taken some interesting twists and turns. For instance, he’s studied trends in global pandemics to predict the path of the avian flu – not long after he scoured the country to find the nation’s most beautiful feet. That’s one of the things John loves best about his role – every difference is different.

Creative highlight

A proud iconoclast, John started his PR career traveling across country with The Rolling Stones. While one might predict it would all roll downhill after that auspicious start, it actually just got more interesting. John has shed light on the horrors of the bathroom sink, the secrets of shaving, the joy of stick shifts, the addictive high of poker and the lasting power of photo love letters.