James Cowie

If you are looking for the portfolio site of James Cowie, well then, congratulations! You’ve come to the right place. 

Unless, of course, you’re searching for James Cowie, the boring Scottish portrait artist of the 1920’s and 30’s. Then, unfortunately you’ve come to the wrong place.

I am James Cowie, the writer and Creative Director. I work at DDB Melbourne as the Head of Copy and Group Creative Partner. And previous to that I worked in NYC for 9 years as an ECD at Deutsch NY.  Amongst other things, I ran global creative for Budweiser Football - the largest piece of the world’s largest beer brand. And, global creative for Michelob Ultra.

Over the years I’ve also spent lots of time doing non-beery things, too. I’ve run creative on Coles Supermarket, Vodka Cruiser, British Paints, Green Giant, Siemens, Newman's Own, ACUVUE, and worked on GoDaddy, Epiduo, Outback Steakhouse, Lactaid, Degree, Microsoft, CURE epilepsy, Live Out Loud, Constant Contact, PNC bank and others, too. Plus, I’ve run creative for Bud Zero, the zero alcohol Budweiser product that I’m putting into this non-beery category, because calling it a beer is a bit like calling grape juice a pinot gris.

Before moving to NYC, I worked for six years at McCann Melbourne. There I worked on GM Holden, Black and Decker, RMIT University, Australian Open Tennis, V/Line Trains, Metro Trains, Lifebroker and more.

Along the way, my work has been recognized at every major international advertising award show including Cannes, D&AD, The One Show, The Webby Awards, The Clios to name a few. And I made a Superbowl spot that made the top five in USA Today. Plus, my work is part of the permanent collection at MOMA.

Hit me up at cowievertising@gmail.com or 0434 183 127.

Reference:

Dan Kelleher. CCO Deutsch New York.

James is one of the best ECD’s I have had the pleasure of working with. He has great creative instincts and has proven himself as a leader who can mentor and inspire teams. James brings passion, a great attitude and tremendous work ethic to every assignment. I’ve worked with James on some businesses whose process was very difficult and James took every hurdle (and there were many!) in stride. James had a great relationship with all our clients and I always received positive feedback from them. When James had a big assignment, I always felt confident that he would deliver. I will miss working with James and nothing would make me happier than to have the opportunity to work with him again one day.

Steve Arkley. VP Global Marketing Budweiser.

It has been an absolute pleasure to work with James as our Creative Lead on Budweiser Football for the last 2 years. He has been instrumental in shaping the development of our global football campaign, supporting exploitation of our English Premier League and La Liga soccer sponsorships, which talk to 3Bn consumers per annum around the world. With a remit to reinvent the way in which Beer and Football properties are executed he has lead a team of creatives at Deutsch to deliver a unique, disruptive and highly impactful marketing campaign that has really landed our idea of Be A King globally.

Executed across 25+ countries, football has become a fundamental pillar of our global brand and most recently James has helped us to super charge this territory with the ’ 'Never Give Up On Greatness' narrative around Lionel Messi, as the King of Beers joins forces with the King of Global Football. Our December 2020 campaign is still running, but has generated 2.6Bn social impressions and over 1,000 Press articles. I would not hesitate to engage James on future work.