An art director by trade, Matt began his career in his hometown of Seattle. He first jumped into the spotlight at Hammerquist & Saffel, where he created award-winning work for K2 Skis and Sims Snowboards. The latter captured the One Show Gold Pencil for print. This sent him on to Wieden+Kennedy in Portland, Oregon, where Nike and Henry Weinhard’s were his muses. Prior to starting Creature, Matt worked with current Creature co-owner Jim Haven as a creative director at StrawberryFrog in Amsterdam.
Since Creature’s inception, Matt has brought a transformative approach to advertising for brands including Starbucks, Google, HBO, Pacifico and Pepsi. Recently, he’s served on panels at New York Advertising Week, spoken at the One Club on non-traditional marketing, and added several awards to the Creature fake-fireplace mantle (including One Show Gold and the Yahoo! Big Idea Chair).
A native of Toronto, Canada, Robson brings 16 years of experience in corporate marketing, product management, strategy and PR roles to the Creature team. For Creature, Robson is responsible for the business part of the business, working with clients to frame their strategic challenges and provide account leadership, and working internally to develop and grow the agency’s business model. Robson has led the agency through three years of significant growth, tripling the business in the US, and the opening of Creature in London.
Prior to joining Creature, Robson spent four years at Corbis, helping the company triple revenues and expand in Europe and Asia. As a client, he has worked with agencies on everything from traditional campaigns to new-media marketing, and he understands today’s marketing challenges and pressures from the client’s perspective. Robson’s industry experience also includes media, technology and entertainment.
Robson serves on the community relations board of the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle and the board of the KidQuest Children’s Museum.
Our Founder, with over 200 years of rich experience in various fields such as book holding, robe wearing and looking thoughtful, originally hails from an antique store in Amsterdam. His affect on the company has been momentus, as both as silent partner and a silent advisor. Previous work includes; watching people from antique store windows, watching people from walls, and a short stint with Scooby-Doo eyes watching people from Creature’s original website. He now resides at the top of the stairs at Creature, welcoming everyone who enters with a hearty expression of contemplation.
Jim Haven co-founded Creature in 2002 and serves as co-executive creative director of the agency. With 15 years of copywriting experience in creative enclaves on the West Coast including Portland, San Francisco, Seattle and Amsterdam, Jim’s role is not just to keep the Creature perspective on the work, but to energize and enable the agency to think in new ways.
Haven has diverse array of brand experiences with virtually every brand category imaginable and contributed to an extensive client list. Over the years, he’s lent his expertise and creativity to Pacifico, Seattle’s Best Coffee, Umpqua Bank, Hotmail, Palm, Google, Nike, Starbucks, Cap Gemini, HBO, The Wall Street Journal, Porsche, and more. His leadership in developing innovative campaigns has also garnered industry recognition, with publications like Adweek, Ad Age, Communication Arts, One, Shoot, Shots and The New York Times seeking his input.
Steve arrived at Creature with the task of making us look good, literally. What makes him unique is his understanding of strategy and how to apply business thinking to great design – no easy task. His career has taken him from small boutique design shops in Nebraska (Bailey Lauerman) to the big agencies of the world (Y&R, Saatchi & Saatchi).. Along the way, he’s covered all the bases, designing retail environments, advertising, brand identities, and beyond. Recent work at Creature has him heading up comprehensive rebranding for Seattle’s Best Coffee, Nuun sports beverages, medical institutes and wine makers. Highlights of his career include international campaigns for Callaway Golf and Pony. Other client experience includes Timberland, Sugarloaf Ski Resort, Burton, Kangol and Lids.
Since 1992, Bart has spent his career providing a high level of service to corporate clients. As an account manager, sales executive, VP of sales and VP of strategic development, he’s been working tirelessly in sales and business development throughout Seattle, Chicago, and now Los Angeles. Prior to joining Creature, Bart was a successful entrepreneur and leader of his own business, Applied Discovery. Bart and his partners grew Applied Discovery to an 85–employee, $30mm-per-year company in just five short years before eventually selling to Lexis/Nexis, in one of the biggest start-up deals in Seattle history.
