Hello,

I’m a brand and business strategist with 20 years of experience in advertising. I lead and grow brands and agencies.

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What I’m
good at.

  • From client teams, to departments, to agencies, growth-centric mentorship and leadership is something I find incredibly fulfilling. I’ve been a part of three ELT teams and ran my own agency.

  • I started my own agency - I know what it takes to build a company. From solving problems to building teams to growing the agency, an entrepreneurial spirit is fundamental to my way of working.

  • I’ve learned from some brilliant strategic planners in my career, and worked in business, brand, digital and social strategy for dozens of major brands growing our client’s business and the agency. I’ve led three award winning strategy departments.

  • What can I say? I love workshops. I’ve built workshops for almost every client I’ve been the planner on, and facilitated things like live focus groups at an Atlanta bar for Herradura, and moderated globally webcasted leadership discussions from Diageo’s headquarters in NYC.

  • I’ve worked on dozens of regional and global new business pitches, winning millions of dollars in new business for my agencies. “When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose.”

  • I’ve been fortunate enough to be a part of (and written entries for) multiple Cannes, Clio, Effie, One Show, Strategy and Marketing award winning campaigns.

My work.

Below are some recent and highlighted projects.
Go to my portfolio for a larger sample of my work.

Full Portfolio

Thought Leadership

Do you believe in advertising? (writing)

For Canada’s largest trade publication I tried to reinvigorate an industry that was having a crisis of confidence.

Has advertising lost it’s way? (podcast)

I went on Didn’t See It Coming to talk about how advertising could get back to its roots.

Strategy & Creative is one process. (podcast)

My long-time creative partner Glen D’Souza and I went on Confessions of a Creative Director to talk about how strategy and creative work together.

How to build a resilient brand. (writing)

Strategy Magazine interviewed me about the report I co-wrote and edited on how to build a resilient brand. Penned during covid, just as relevant now?

Resilient brands. (webcast)

We went on the great podcast/webcast Chatter that Matters to talk about resilient brands.

  • "Carty, thanks for embracing the challenge. I can say with confidence that we are going to market in a more sophisticated, artful, modern and global way than ever before."

    Mary McCall, Global Head of Brand Marketing, Nuveen

  • "At Grey, Andrew helped lead the agency, tighten and define our strategic approach, and win tons of business and awards."

    Stephanie Nerlich, Global President, McCann

  • "Wait, Carty is a Planner? I thought he was a Creative.... Carty is irreplaceable when it comes to working with creatives and having fun."

    Glen D’Souza, Head of Creative, Forsman & Bodenfors