The Audacious School Of Astonishing Pursuits

The Audacious School Of Astonishing Pursuits It’s an 8-week group coaching and mentor program with 16-year W+K veteran and former Executive Creative Director Jason Bagley.
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I’m going to tell you that most of what you’ve been taught as a creative is wrong.I think the ad industry sets up CDs to...
08/26/2026

I’m going to tell you that most of what you’ve been taught as a creative is wrong.

I think the ad industry sets up CDs to fail.

I have a passion for vacuum cleaners and the musical taste of a teenage girl.

I’ll tell you to stop worrying what everyone else will like, and start figuring out what you like and wanna make.

I’m only moderately talented, and that’s one of the secrets to my success

I believe being irresponsible is the most responsible thing you can do.

I’ll tell you that selling great work is as important a skill as creating it.

I think the worst way to come up with a great idea, is to try to come up with a great idea.

I think if you’re not having fun, you’re doing it wrong.

05/27/2026

Latest podcast episode with Jeff Dryer, ECD & Partner at KDSP and art director with over 13 years of experience in advertising, branding, and craft service table critiquing (aka production).

After graduating from the VCU BrandCenter, he began his career at Wieden + Kennedy, working on brands like Southern Comfort, ESPN, and Nike Jordan. He’s also led campaigns for Heineken, Miller Lite, Upwork, Amazon, NBA2K, and Jose Cuervo. He most recently received the Grand Prix Film Lion for Apple’s “R.I.P Leon”. Despite the multiple Gold Lions he’s won over the years and now uses as paper weights and doorstops, he still has never set foot in France.

Jeff recently cofounded his own agency, KDSP, where he’s finally fallen in love with being a CD.

Jeff is a lifelong fan of country and soul music, documentary films, photography books, and the great outdoors. They all inspire his work and approach to creative problem-solving.

Jeff’s Website: https://jeffreylawrencefishburnedryer...

Jason’s Free Masterclass Training:
https://vist.ly/55pmb...

Big thanks to all the fancy judges who keep being nice to our horribly violent musical nightmare.
05/12/2026

Big thanks to all the fancy judges who keep being nice to our horribly violent musical nightmare.

THE BEST WORK USUALLY DIES IN A MEETING YOU WEREN’T INVITED TO.I spent 16 years at Wieden+Kennedy watching this happen: ...
04/23/2026

THE BEST WORK USUALLY DIES IN A MEETING YOU WEREN’T INVITED TO.
I spent 16 years at Wieden+Kennedy watching this happen: The brief was right. The insight was sweet. The work was great. And then, p**f. Killed. Watered down. Or quietly buried in a deck no one opened past slide 17.
Eventually my slow brain saw the pattern. The work usually isn’t the problem.
The problem is a one‑string safety net.
Most creative directors have a single point of failure–one ally at one level in one corner of the client org. Which means they’re always one mystery decision‑maker away from a tiny creative funeral.
Creative causes of death include:
Assassination by a C‑suite exec you’ve never met
Death by nervous Nelly day‑to‑day client killing or watering down work their boss would’ve actually bought but never gets to see.
Your own CCO playing it safe before the work ever leaves the building.
Or research that “optimizes” your idea to be as breakthrough as a government form.

These are the four scenarios I call The 4 Horsemen of the Creative Apocalypse.

I’ve met all four. Several times. Sometimes in the same week.

There are specific strategies to overcome each.

Swipe the carousel.
Then tell me: which horseman has killed your best work the most?

TALENT IS THE COVER CHARGE. HERE'S WHAT ACTUALLY GETS YOU TO CCO. As a former CCO of  Wieden+Kennedy, I can tell you: by...
04/23/2026

TALENT IS THE COVER CHARGE. HERE'S WHAT ACTUALLY GETS YOU TO CCO.
As a former CCO of  Wieden+Kennedy, I can tell you: by the time you're sniffing around GCD, ECD, or CCO territory, everyone already has a killer book. We're all just trading the same five case studies back and forth like Pokémon cards.
What separates you isn't the portfolio. It's the weird little operating system in your skull.
Here are 4 mindset shifts most creatives miss on the way up
(Swipe the carousel)

TALENT IS THE COVER CHARGE. HERE'S WHAT ACTUALLY GETS YOU TO CCO.As a former CCO of Wieden+Kennedy, I can tell you: by ...
04/23/2026

TALENT IS THE COVER CHARGE. HERE'S WHAT ACTUALLY GETS YOU TO CCO.
As a former CCO of Wieden+Kennedy, I can tell you: by the time you're sniffing around GCD, ECD, or CCO territory, everyone already has a killer book. We're all just trading the same five case studies back and forth like Pokémon cards.
What separates you isn't the portfolio. It's the weird little operating system in your skull.
Here are 4 mindset shifts most creatives miss on the way up
(Swipe the carousel)

04/19/2026

Clients don’t buy ideas. They buy certainty. Sell your big idea like you already know it will work.

04/18/2026

Flip the context, watch the punchline write itself.

04/17/2026

You can’t make everyone happy and make history too.

04/16/2026

Stories start when they run out of excuses, not before.

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