The Creatives: Keith Goldberg

Keith Goldberg
Partner and chief creative officer, Rally
Downtown; rallygroup.com

FOCUS: Brand building is not enough. Being a vehicle through which people express their passions and beliefs is how you win. Our primary tools are what we call the next mass media an integrated mix of digital, social and live platforms augmented by partnerships with cultural influencers. Rallys POV attracts well-known, forward-thinking clients such as Frito-Lay, Jarden Consumer Solutions, Jermaine Kearse Foundation, Mr. Coffee, Planned Parenthood, Slurpee, Speakman and Target.

MOST CHALLENGING ASSIGNMENT: Helping an upstart credit card issuer named Capital One take on Chase, Citi, etc., and become a major financial services player. We wanted to make the card issuer actually add value and provoke doubt in consumers minds regarding the value of their legacy card choices. Thats how Whats in your wallet? was born. When I wrote that tagline, I had no idea it would blow up like it has. It was recently installed on New Yorks Advertising Walk of Fame.

CRAZIEST THING IVE DONE: It includes going to Ireland, renting the grounds of an expansive old estate, building [from scratch] an American-looking suburban neighborhood, pumping out acres of fake snow, bringing in some horses, having those horses jump over cars (American, also brought in). I almost forgot: There was a grand piano involved. Thankfully, the horses and everyone else survived the shoot.

I ADMIRE: My daughter. At 21, she is more poised, intelligent and articulate than I have ever been. My runner-up is Oscar Wilde. He said, Be yourself, everyone else is taken. Its my favorite quote (and my left forearm tattoo).

OUTSIDE MY WINDOW I SEE: A big, fat slice of Puget Sound.

HOW I WOULD BRAND SEATTLE: Thanks to climate change, Florida will soon to be underwater; Arizona and California are turning into inhospitable, year-round deserts; the mid-Atlantic states are experiencing record-setting snowfalls. How about this: Seattle: Come for the Weather?