Brand side,
agency side,
outside,
inside,
big bucks,
pocket lint,
TV screens,
street teams
pitched it,
sold it,
built it,
ran it.

I’m Burke Lauderdale, a freelance Creative Director, Art Director who believes that without grit there are no pearls. 

I hang my hat in Austin, Texas and work anywhere planes fly. And thanks to airplanes, I’ve collected more passport stamps than baseball cards.

No matter where I am, I’m always available via:

burkelauderdale@gmail.com

previous clients & agencies

Disney / Sennheiser / 72andSunny LA / Droga5 New York / Mother New York / Deutsch NY / R/GA New York / BBH New York / Wieden+Kennedy Portland / Tonal / Elephant New York / N/A Collective New York & Austin / Partners in Crime / Crispin Porter Bogusky Boulder / The&Partnership New York / the community Miami / SS+K New York / Grey New York / MKG New York / KBS New York / Door No. 3 Austin / Baldwin& / McKinney Durham & New York / Spot / Arnold Worldwide Boston / SHELTR Austin / + you?

published written & Spoken words

Sometimes The Best Way To Recharge Your Career Is To Get Away From It / How Quitting Your Job Can Make You A Better Creative / What in the world? / Don’t Get Me Started Podcast / University of Texas guest lecture / Creative Circus panel speaker

INDUSTRY RECOGNITION

Communication Arts Interactive Annual / AdAge’s Ten Most Effective Holiday Ads / IAB MIXX Gold Award / Grand Effie Finalist / Effie Gold x 3 / Effie Silver x 4 / MITX Award / Webby Finalist / Working Not Working Profile of the Week / Hatch Award Gold x 4 / Hatch Award Silver x 5 / Hatch Award Bronze x 6 / The Leica Meet: Photo of the Month / Creative Circus Gold / Creative Circus Silver / Cannes Gold Lion found in a trash can

MOMENTS I LIVE FOR

Backroads to anywhere / An empty sidewalk in New York / Documentaries / Biographies / Autobiographies / Being all-in / The way Steve Prefontaine ran / The sound of screen door hinges / The smudge of newspaper ink on my fingertips / Smooth rocking chairs / The crunch of fresh snow underfoot / Sturgill Simpson’s voice / Leading wtih kindness / The jagged outline of an oyster shell / Air-cooled Porsches / Screened-in porches / Azaleas / Heirloom tomatoes / The unforgetable smell of low tide / The fire in your throat from running in the cold / Generously cheesy grits / The hues of Big Bend before a rainstorm / The repetition of crashing waves / Peeling shrimp / The salty taste of sweat / Besting yesterday / My dad’s biscuits / Framed maps / The tones of Kodak Portra film / The first sip of coffee / The pop of a record player needle settling into an album / + other purpose filled, intentional delicacies

HOME

I grew up on a small island in South Carolina.

My father was a newspaper man and my mother an English teacher, and they taught me that when someone says something perfectly, don’t try to recreate it, let them say it.

So I turn the next paragraph over to Pat Conroy, who transcribes the area I call home in beautiful detail in his book The Prince of Tides.

“To describe our growing up in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, I would have to take you to the marsh on a spring day, flush the great blue heron from its silent occupation, scatter marsh hens as we sink to our knees in mud, open you an oyster with a pocketknife and feed it to you from the shell and say, “There. That taste. That’s the taste of my childhood.” I would say, “Breathe deeply,” and you would breathe and remember that smell for the rest of your life...”

To this day, I haven’t read anything more true.

And if you weren’t into gallivanting through the marsh with me in search of oysters, I’d understand. But, I would insist on taking you to my favorite restaurant where we could belly up to the bar and have some served to us, already shucked, alongside a slice of mud pie that you’d dream about for the rest of your life.

DIPLOMAS

The Creative Circus, Art Direction / The University of South Carolina, Advertising & Sociology

no grit
no pearl

ABOUT

Burke Lauderdale is a freelance Creative Director, Art Director who believes that without grit there are no pearls.

He hangs his hat in Austin, Texas and works anywhere planes fly.

CONTACT

Always available via burkelauderdale@gmail.com