"I am Most Proud of My Long-Term Client and Partner Relationships"

Theo Fanning has been developing branding, creating advertising, and designing experiences for companies large and small for 25+ years.

He’s worked with the likes of Adobe, Apple, Dolby, and Lenovo and recently joined Cogs & Marvel as their Executive Creative Director to take their creative vision to the next level.

Cogs & Marvel caught up with him to find out more about his fascinating career.

Q> Give us the 'in a nutshell' summary of your career.

Theo> I was never an idle teenager. I was always involved in some kind of creative project; designing graphic t-shirts for bands, creating art films with my friends, performing live music at local dive bars. I even managed to earn my broadcasting license, and hosted a late night university radio show - this was all while I was in high school.

I went to college to be a filmmaker - but the university shuttered the film programme my second day on campus. I spent my four years bouncing around seven or eight different majors (Physics, Science, Music, Communications, etc). In the end I graduated with two degrees that I swore I would never get: an English degree and an Art degree. At the time, I didn’t think they were 'valuable' degrees, but my passions got the better of me. As it turned out, they were more worthwhile than I could’ve ever imagined.

I moved to San Francisco with the goal of becoming a conceptual artist at Industrial Light & Magic. I applied probably 7-8 times and got nothing but rejection letters. After a few short stints working at start-ups as a graphic designer, I stumbled my way into a job at Think New Ideas, a digital design agency ahead of the time. That’s when I realised that my hodge-podge skillset was desirable to companies looking to build branding, advertising, and experiences.

I ran through a few different agencies in the Bay Area (Grey, BSSP, DDB), before foolishly deciding to start an agency with friends right after the 2001 economic downturn. We built that agency from four people to about 70 across two offices, and were lucky enough to work with some of the world's largest brands. But after 20+ years, I could see that boutique marketing agencies were struggling to make an impact. Traditional and digital advertising wasn’t shifting fast enough to meet audiences’ needs in new spaces and innovative ways. Thus, my move to Cogs & Marvel.

Q> Any crazy or memorable stories you can share?

Theo> Oh, too many to recount. Traveling to China to work with Alibaba on their American launch. Running into Steve Jobs at the Apple headquarters (I literally almost knocked his lunch out of his hands). Blowing up laptops and building a mechanical rhino for Lenovo on the same stage they did some of the Pirates of the Caribbean effects at Ten32 Studios. Building a collection of amazing fake and real images and videos for Adobe that challenged people to decipher where reality ended and imagination began. The list goes on and on.

Q> What’s been your biggest achievement?

Theo> I’ve won a slew of awards, which is nice, but that’s not really my primary motivator. Honestly, I am most proud of the long-term client and partner relationships that I have been lucky enough to help build over the years. Nothing beats working with good people, united in creating unique and interesting solutions to problems large and small - and having a damn fine time in the process.

Q> What do you think is the biggest struggle for agencies right now?

Theo> Creating and building work that stands out is becoming increasingly more challenging. There are so many distractions in the world today, you have to earn the right to access people’s attention, which is harder to do now than ever before. It’s easy to fall into the trap of doing the same thing over and over again, so finding new, exciting and unique ideas that drive impact is a real challenge for many agencies.

Q> What was it that drew you to Cogs & Marvel?

Theo> I believe Cogs & Marvel is perfectly positioned at the intersection of media, content, and real-world experiences, and with so many great technologies coming to fruition, the opportunities are endless. Being able to bring a story to life across a variety of touchpoints to truly engage new audiences is really exciting.

Q> What’s your vision for Cogs & Marvel?

Theo> I want to continue to expand and grow the amazing work that Cogs & Marvel is already doing, and help make us the leader in ideating and executing the world’s most compelling experiences. The DNA is already there, we just need to continue to harness it in new and exciting ways.

Q> Two Truths and a lie, Go!

Theo> Um… okay:

I have been on two episodes of Magnum P.I.

For a short while, I worked as a magician in a hotel in Waikiki, Hawaii.

In my free time I make silly meme videos, some of which have gotten millions of views on Tik Tok and other social channels.

Q> Okay, Which one is the lie?

Theo> The lie? The lie is… that none of them are a lie.