David Gray is an American

filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

, commercial director, and former

creative director A creative director is a person who makes high-level creative decisions; oversees the creation of creative assets such as advertisements, products, events, or logos; and directs and translates the creative people who produce the end results. Creat ...

Goodby, Silverstein & Partners Goodby, Silverstein & Partners (also known as GSP) is an advertising agency based in San Francisco. History The agency was founded on April 15, 1983 as Goodby, Berlin & Silverstein by Jeff Goodby, Andy Berlin and Rich Silverstein. Andy Berlin l ...

and

BBDO BBDO is a worldwide advertising agency network, with its headquarters in New York City. The agency originated in 1891 with the George Batten Company, and in 1928, through a merger with Barton, Durstine & Osborn (BDO), the agency became Batten, B ...

. He has worked with numerous brands including

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine giv ...

Visa Visa most commonly refers to: * Travel visa, a document that allows entry to a foreign country * Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Vi ...

American Express American Express Company or Amex is an American bank holding company and multinational financial services corporation that specializes in payment card industry, payment cards. It is headquartered at 200 Vesey Street, also known as American Expr ...

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

FedEX FedEx Corporation, originally known as Federal Express Corporation, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate holding company specializing in Package delivery, transportation, e-commerce, and ...

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City. It was established as Time Warne ...

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

Volkswagen Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...

, and

GEICO The Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO ) is an American vehicle insurance company headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland. In addition to auto insurance, GEICO provides motorcycle, ATV, RV, boat, snowmobile, travel, pet, event, hom ...

Life and career

Gray grew up in

Rochester, NY Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

and graduated cum laude from

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

. He was an

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

Saatchi & Saatchi Saatchi and Saatchi is a British multinational communications and advertising agency network with 114 offices in 76 countries and over 6,500 staff. It was founded in 1970 and is currently headquartered in London. The parent company of the agency ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and worked on various packaged goods like

Tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...

, Cascade, and

General Mills General Mills, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded ultra-processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in ...

cereals. At BBDO, Gray was promoted to creative director on their

Snickers Snickers (stylized in all caps) is a chocolate bar consisting of nougat topped with Caramel#Candy, caramel and peanuts, all encased in milk chocolate. The bars are made by the American company Mars Inc. The annual global sales of Snickers is ...

account and co-created the award winning "Not going anywhere for a while?" campaign. His work was honored as Campaign of the Year by AdWeek and Commercial of the Year by

Advertising Age ''Ad Age'' (known as ''Advertising Age'' until 2017) is a global media brand that publishes news, analysis, and data on marketing and media. Its namesake magazine was started as a broadsheet newspaper in Chicago in 1930. ''Ad Age'' appears in ...

. In 1997, BBDO was named Agency of the Year at the

Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity (formerly the International Advertising Festival) is a global event for those working in creative communications, advertising, and related fields. It is considered the largest gathering of the ...

in large part due to the success of Gray's campaign. In 1997, Gray joined Goodby, Silverstein & Partners as creative director on their

E*Trade E*TRADE is an investment brokerage and electronic trading platform that operates as a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley. History In 1982, physicist William A. Porter and Bernard A. Newcomb founded TradePlus in Palo Alto, California, with $15,00 ...

and Nike accounts, which also merited him numerous awards. Advertising Age named Goodby, Silverstein & Partners Agency of the Year in both 1999 and 2000, again in part due to Gray's work. His E*Trade "Monkey," "Monkey II," and "Wazoo" spots have been named some of the best

Super Bowl ads Super Bowl commercials, colloquially known as Super Bowl ads and sometimes referred to as Big Game spots for legal reasons, are high-profile television commercials featured in the U.S. television broadcast of the Super Bowl, the championship ga ...

of all-time. After his success as an art director, Gray returned to filmmaking and started directing commercials with Hungry Man in New York. Shortly after his debut, he was nominated for the prestigious Commercial Director of the Year Award by the

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of Film director, film and Television director, television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Dir ...

, which is bestowed on upon the industry's Top 5 directors each year. From Hungry Man, he went onto direct with Station Film, and is now on SKUNK's roster in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. David Gray currently resides in Rye, New York.

Awards

* 2013: Cannes Lions, Bronze for "Curfew" * 2012: D&AD, Nominee for "History of America" * 2007: DGA, Director of the Year, Nominee * 2006: London International Advertising Awards, Entertainment, for "Transvestite" * 2006: Effie, Gold, for "Transvestite" * 2006: One Show, Pencil, for "Transvestite" * 2006: D&AD, Yellow Pencil, for "Transvestite" * 2006: Cannes Lions, Bronze, for "Transvestite"Transvestite
* 2000: London International Advertising Awards, Banking & Financial Services, for "Monkey," "Tri-Mount," and "Wazoo" * 2000: Clio Awards, Media Promotion, for "Wazoo" * 2000: International ANDY Awards, Financial Products & Services, for "Wazoo"
* 2000: Cannes Lions, Silver, for "Basketball" * 2000: Cannes Lions, Silver, for "Tri-Mount" * 2000: Cannes Lions, Gold, for "Monkey" * 1998: Cannes Lions, Gold, for "Cologne" * 1997: Cannes Lions, Silver, for "Team Prayer" * 1997: Cannes Lions, Silver, for "Football Player" * 1997: Cannes Lions, Silver, for "Batman" * 1997: Cannes Lions, Silver, for "Chefs" * 1997: AICP Awards, Humor, for "Chefs" * 1997: Advertising Age's The Best Awards, Best TV Commercial, for "Chefs" * 1997: AdWeek Campaign of the Year, for Snickers campaignBest spots 1996. (Adweek editors select best 1996 television commercials)

References

External links

*

Vimeo

Official Website {{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, David Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Artists from Rochester, New York Film directors from New York (state) American advertising directors