Martin started Swirl in 1997 with an array of creative experience under his belt, a strong sense for business and a few brave friends. His goal was to create an agency where talents, experience, and capabilities could mix better than they do at traditional agencies and where ideas, not media formats, were served.
Martin’s eclectic career began in 1989 as an in-house copywriter for Disney, creating trailers and movie posters for such memorable hits as, “Ernest Goes to Camp.” In 1992 Martin joined Foote, Cone and Belding in San Francisco where he worked on such clients as Clorox, Taco Bell and Epson. Martin then returned to LA to help launch the Fox Sports Network as well as several sports-oriented entertainment properties and feature films. Unable to stay away from his native San Francisco for too long, Martin returned to FCB to work on the Levi Strauss & Company account, where he wrote the acclaimed Dockers Mission campaign and contributed to various Levi’s 501 and silverTab campaigns.
With creative experience in print, TV, radio and retail POS, it was only natural for Martin to seek out new challenges. In 1995 he was promoted to Creative Director of the newly formed Interactive division of FCB. In this role, Martin led creative development for the first branded websites for the Levi's® and Dockers® brands and developed a range of CD-ROM and kiosk applications for the retail environment. Martin’s Levi.com iterations led to national and international acclaim including the coveted Gold Pencil.
However, the most important outcome of Martin’s interactive work was that it cemented his belief that rigorous strategy and great creative thinking were the key ingredients regardless of media format. As more and more agencies began to define themselves by medium, Martin knew there was room for a ‘media agnostic’ thinking person’s agency where one size did NOT fit all.
In 1997 Swirl was born. Since that time, Martin has led Swirl through consecutive years of growth and profitability all of which have been fueled entirely through referrals. Maybe that’s because Martin believes that the best way to gain new clients is by doing great work for existing ones and so his thoughtful mind and inventive approach continue to guide Swirl’s unique service offering.