About

Barry Whitfield, concepts and art.

More than an art director, Barry is a people director. His work is artful, human, genuine, and personal. He approaches it like a craftsman, paying attention to every detail, every step of the way —from creative development to production to market. This process, embedded into Barry’s creative DNA early on working at Phillips-Ramsey Advertising & Public Relations / McCann, has led to success for his clients while earning accolades from the Cannes Advertising Festival, The One Show, The ADDY Awards, US Ad Review, and PRINT.

As an independent ad pro, Barry has honed his craft over time at advertising and marketing firms across the country. He partners with select clients to do compelling work and build meaningful relationships between their brands and their customers, both consumer and B2B. 

Whatever the medium —digital, print, broadcast, branding, packaging— it takes creative, strategic thinking for a brand to build trust and stand out. Barry believes that when you communicate in a truthful and sincere way, good things happen. You elevate the experience for the consumer as well as for the brand.  

When Barry isn’t helping brands shine in the marketplace, you’ll probably find him on San Diego’s shorelines or out at sea, mentoring inner city youth through fishing fun and community so they can shine in the world. 

Ed Crayton, words and ideas.

In the movies, advertising is usually depicted as a wild, almost insane business. Ed has found the business to be much wilder than Hollywood ever implied. He began his journey as a copywriter by writing ads for Macy’s Ad Department in San Francisco. But he felt the call to be more creative. After a lot of prayer and bugging the creative directors nearly to death, he was given an internship at Goodby, Berlin & Silverstein in San Francisco. That turned into a staff job as a copywriter. Around that time, the agency became one of the country’s hot ad agencies. Twice it was picked as agency of the year by both Ad Age and Adweek—the top industry journals. 

After Goodby, Ed worked at creative shops such as Doyle Design in Boston, TBWA/Chiat-Day in Los Angeles and DGWB in Irvine, California. At DGWB he became an associate creative director. From there he moved to Dallas to become a creative director at DDB. After a stint there, he became a freelancer working for Sanders Wingo in Austin and other shops. Along the way, his work has been honored by leading industry associations and award shows including Adweek Magazine, Ad Age, The Clio Awards, The One Show, The Addy Awards and Communication Arts and Cannes Advertising Festival. Ed currently freelances for agencies in New Orleans and elsewhere. He has no advertising philosophy. But he has learned that the best ads tend to be both creative and strategically strong. A great ad or marketing idea with sound strategy is worth gold for any brand. Abe Lincoln said, “If I had 24 hours to cut down a tree, I would spend the first 23 sharpening my axe.” Before Ed writes a word for any client, he does lots of axe sharpening: learning all he can. 

He lives in Natchitoches, Louisiana, a town so old, it was once part of France.