What About Me?
My name is Scott Cullins. I’m a marketing and media creative, and content marketer.
I originally hail from Los Angeles, California and currently reside in the Greater Salt Lake region of Utah. Prior to moving to Utah, I spent about a dozen years living in Idaho, where my wife and I raised two boys in the shadows of the Teton Mountains.
Today, I’m a creative director for an advertising agency…bouncing between my home in Utah and my humble cabin in Driggs, Idaho.
Let’s get into the weeds…shall we?
If you’re interested in the work I’ve done as a media and marketing creative pro, check out my work/portfolio page. or skip down to read more about my about my 25 years in the business.
And let me warn you, I’m going to be spinning a long yarn here, but in my defense: this is my website, so I can write as much as I want to.
My Mountain Lifestyle
I love the mountain lifestyle and I get all of that in Idaho. But I also love and urban/mountain mix that the Greater Salt Lake region and the Wasatch Mountains offers.
I dwell about 20 minutes from downtown, right up against the Wasatch Mountains (see marker below). Not a bad view from my front deck.
Here, in Utah, I have the best of both worlds. In 15 minutes, I can be mountain biking on dozens of IMBA Gold trails in Park City. Inn the winter, I can ski in the morning at any one of seven world-class resorts in my backyard, and be in the office by 1 pm.
Skiing is great but my heart is really in mountain biking. Check out Wasatch Rider, my mountain bike lifestyle blog.
The Sound of Music
In addition to my career in creative communications, my passion towards the arts extends to music.
As a teenager in Los Angeles, I got hooked up with some wonderfully bad influences that led me to believe I could become a rock star. So I spent the next ten years doing the garage band thing until my first son was born. At that point, I realized I needed to knock it off and get busy making hay.
Don’t get me wrong…I had been employed in product design and then media creative. But the pressure of fatherhood made me yearn to climb the career ladder faster.
So I put down my beloved guitar and focus on making money. But I eventually realized I didn’t need to give up music, so I began writing again.
When I moved to Salt Lake City, I got active again—playing at open mics and open jams. The photo at the top of my home page was taken at the Hog Wallow in Cottonwood Heights.
I even produced a song and placed it on all the major streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music etc. Take a listen below.
I also got very active in promoting local music. I produced a songwriters’ showcase as part of the Made in Utah festival. I also started the local music Salt Lake Bard. Check it out.
My Career
Like many, it took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. After attending architectural school in Arizona, I somehow ended up in aerospace product design.
After a friend in the print business convinced me to buy a Mac and do graphic design on the side, I found my calling.
Fast forward 30 years and here I am…arguably one of the top creative directors in media and marketing. Yes, that’s a bold statement. But if you know SEO, you’ll understand.
The Early Days in Publishing
I got my real start on the media side of the creative industry when, in the late 90’s, I landed a gig as art director for Bon Appétit magazine. At the time, it was the largest food magazine in the world.
I really wasn’t qualified for the the position. A lot of people were probably scratching their heads at how an architectural student-turned product designer could weasel their way into this prestigious magazine.
I basically has adopted the mantra of fake it until you make it.
I had been working as an aerospace product designer for a few years when a friend in the print business convinced me to buy a mac. He knew I must have some skill and he was hoping to get me to do some graphics for his business on the side.
I soon decided that graphic design and writing was much more satisfying than designing weapons of war, so I quit my job, joined the local chamber of commerced and started freelancing.
Next thing you know, I won a contract to print the chamber business directory and suddenly I was a publisher.
That experience qualified me for a position as art production manager at Bon Appétit. From there, I was able to flex my design skills and, when the art director position opened up, I was in like Flynn
Had enough? Cut to the chase and download my resume now.
Making the Move to Marketing and Advertising
A few years later, it dawned on me that trying to make a career in the magazine business, while living on Los Angeles, was very limiting.
There was only one other major publication in town and that was another Condé Nast publication, Architectural Digest.
So I made a strategic decision to get into marketing and advertising ASAP. Once again, I bamboozled my way into a job and snagged a position leading the design team for the in-house agency at Health Net, a Fortune 500 health insurance company.
We cranked out more than 450 pieces of collateral and advertising in my first year there.
This position had it all, We did some digital and print advertising, a ton of marketing collateral, a lot of outdoor and even some television. The image below is me on the set in Malibu with my team.
Over the next 20 years, I made all kinds of moves, including:
- moving to Idaho to lead the marketing efforts for an internet startup
- starting my own boutique ad agency
- publishing my own magazine and selling it on newsstands across the U.S. and Canada
- publishing a tourist map that, to this day, is sold at retail locations in Idaho
- moving to Utah and taking a job with Salt Lake magazine
Today, I’m a creative director at Arena, one of the largest political marketing agencies in the country.
A lot of people were surprised at this move. But like any industry, political marketing has it’s professional challenges. I’m very competitive and always strive to be the best in the business.
As such, my goal is to the best creative director in the political advertising business. Have I achieved that goal yet? Perhaps.
Creative communications is like skiing…there’s always room for improvement.
Work With Me Here
Visit my contact page and hit me up if you’re interested in talking about work, music, riding or skiing. And thanks for taking the time to hear my srtory.