Overview of the work and career of the "Forrest Gump of Strategists." A leader in brand and communication strategy, digital marketing and market and user insights. An innovative, disruptive, insights-driven storyteller. Passionate about delivering groundbreaking work for global brands that truly touches consumers' lives.

1. Russ Josephs
P O R T F O L I O :

2. I like to think of myself as the Forrest Gump of
Strategists.

3. i.e. Right place, Right time.

4. i.e. Right place, Right time.
MOBILE
SOCIAL
EXPERIENTIAL
DIGITAL

5. i.e. Right place, Right time.
SOCIAL
EXPERIENTIAL
DIGITAL MOBILE
My first “real” job was producing digital
content for HyperTV, the first company to
merge TV and the Internet. Our partnerships
with major networks paved the way for
interactive television as we know it.

6. i.e. Right place, Right time.
SOCIAL
EXPERIENTIAL
DIGITAL MOBILE
My first “real” job was producing digital
content for HyperTV, the first company to
merge TV and the Internet. Our partnerships
with major networks paved the way for
interactive television as we know it.
Later I joined R/GA New York as a
Trend Analyst, helping brands like
Nike, Nokia and Walmart navigate
the latest developments in mobile
and emerging platforms.

7. i.e. Right place, Right time.
SOCIAL
EXPERIENTIAL
DIGITAL MOBILE
Next I joined HUGE to do digital and social
strategy. I designed Pizza Hut’s social media
ecosystem from the ground up, convinced
Four Seasons that affluent people used
Facebook (so they should too), and worked
on Pepsi Refresh, the first “social good”
campaign reaching over 60 million people.
My first “real” job was producing digital
content for HyperTV, the first company to
merge TV and the Internet. Our partnerships
with major networks paved the way for
interactive television as we know it.
Later I joined R/GA New York as a
Trend Analyst, helping brands like
Nike, Nokia and Walmart navigate
the latest developments in mobile
and emerging platforms.

8. i.e. Right place, Right time.
SOCIAL
DIGITAL
My first “real” job was producing digital
content for HyperTV, the first company to
merge TV and the Internet. Our partnerships
with major networks paved the way for
interactive television as we know it.
MOBILE
Later I joined R/GA New York as a
Trend Analyst, helping brands like
Nike, Nokia and Walmart navigate
the latest developments in mobile
and emerging platforms.
Next I joined HUGE to do digital and social
strategy. I designed Pizza Hut’s social media
ecosystem from the ground up, convinced
Four Seasons that affluent people used
Facebook (so they should too), and worked
on Pepsi Refresh, the first “social good”
campaign reaching over 60 million people.
EXPERIENTIAL
After that I helped transition Atmosphere
Proximity/BBDO from a purely digital agency to
an experiential one. This included Emirates’
World Cup campaign and Visa's Olympics
campaign. I also helped The Economist net the
youngest readers they'd ever had (in addition to
a ton of women).

9. Global Experience & Expertise.
I spent the next five years in Asia, doing both digital and traditional strategy for a variety of global brands including Coke, Adidas, Nestle, Kimberly-
Clark, HSBC, Fidelity, Ford and Jaguar Land Rover.
I also helped generate several new business wins for McCann Worldgroup and J. Walter Thompson Worldwide, as well as numerous awards (Effie
Greater China, Spikes Asia and One Show Greater China).
CHINA
HONG KONG
VIETNAM
TAIWAN

10. Groundbreaking Research & Thought Leadership.
During this time I also published my own proprietary research on Asian Millennials and Gen Z.

11. 2010
Career Highlights.
2012 2018
Started a
social movement.
PEPSI
Radically diversified
a brand’s audience.
For 23 consecutive years Pepsi spent
millions of dollars on Super Bowl ads.
We convinced them to use that money
to do something more positive and
impactful. Pepsi Refresh engaged over
60 million people in one of the biggest
“Social Good” campaigns ever. All the
money went back to the community
and literally changed lives.
We increased subscriptions and netted
The Economist their youngest readers
ever (including a ton of women) through
digital activations and campus takeovers
throughout the U.S. The campaign, “Go
Deep with The Economist,” pitted their
core values of wit, wordplay and
longform journalism against some of the
more shallow, vapid content of the day
(e.g. Buzzfeed).
Took a niche
brand mainstream.
2016
To reach our target (young Asian moms),
we convinced Kimberly-Clark to forego
a traditional TV spot and create a 100%
digital campaign addressing a common
cultural tension (mother-in-law issues).
Powered only by word of mouth, we
became the no. 1 trending video on
YouTube (total views: 15 million). We
also won 12 local and international
awards, including an Effie.
Broke with tradition
(and the Internet).
In less than 6 months we made The
Balvenie a top 5 whisky brand in the
market (previously they hovered
outside the top 10). Millions watched
our online video series and half a
million participated in our Chinese New
Year campaign, “The Longest Red
Envelope,” which digitized the holiday
tradition of passing out red envelopes
to friends and family.

12. What’s Next?
I’ve had some true milestones in my career, and have been fortunate to work with some incredible brands at some incredible
agencies (in some incredible locations).
But for my next role, I want to take things up a notch. In the age of Covid, I believe how we measure success needs to change.
While things like views, clicks, sales and awards will never fade from importance, they need to be supplemented with an entirely new
set of KPIs, things like: How are we making things better? How many people are we helping? How are we improving people’s lives?
How are we improving the planet?
In this new, “post-normal” world, I want to utilize my skillset and knowledge to truly make an impact.

13. Get in touch:
russjosephs@gmail.com
+886 909 988 317