Hi,

Thanks for stopping by. My name is Roger Baran and I am Vice-President, Executive Creative Director at The Community. I currently run our San Francisco office, working with interdisciplinary teams across all 4 locations. I’m part of a small leadership team working to turn The Community into a global creative powerhouse while leading accounts like Samsung, Verizon, Oceana, and Bank of the West.

Before spearheading an office and helping run three of largest accounts at The Community I spent 8 years at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, where I arrived as a Senior Copywriter and left as Executive Creative Director and Head of Innovation. During those prolific years I also lead two of the agencies largest pitch wins—Pepsi and BMW—sometimes leading a 100-people effort and more than 20 creative teams at once. With effective and award-winning work year after year for clients like Adobe, Doritos, Dalí Museum, Pepsi, BMW, and Xfinity I helped GSP reclaim its position as one of the most relevant and innovative agencies of our time winning over 200 awards for 10 different clients, and getting 6 Emmy Nominations in the process.

I strive every day to create work that people want to engage with. Under my leadership we often pushed boundaries, continually integrating multi-disciplinary teams. I try to always lead by example, fostering a safe, diverse and positive environment that lifts people up and empowers everyone to take ownership at every step. I’ve experienced how a nimble creative process — where decisions are made fast and with confidence — can break traditional molds and move brands to new heights. I also discovered how important it is to keep mental health in check. Indecision and lack of communication can ruin morale and a team’s motivation and sense of purpose.

My goal is to help brands move at the speed of culture. I believe that true partnership between brands and agencies can be potentialized with innovative thinking, meticulous craft and smart strategy. This approach has proved successful multiple times.

Like when we decided to give people permission to drink Pepsi with their most recent tagline “That’s what I like”. Or when Adobe creative suite became a service, we decided to lean on the creative community by creating TV ads made only with Photoshop. For Doritos, transformation came by carefully moving away from its 10-year “Crash the Super Bowl” platform to usher the brand into a new era with a new positioning and bold moves like the BoldStage at SXSW and products like Rainbows and No Choice. For the Dalí Museum that change came with a first-of-its-kind VR experience and by using artificial intelligence to let a digital version of the Spanish painter guide visitors through his work. I’ve helped BMW infuse new meaning into its 30-year-old tagline, Bank of the West discover its calling to be America’s leading sustainable bank, and Xfinity find its groove with ET’s return, just to mention a few.

During my 20-year career I was included in several prestigious lists and won pretty much every shiny object a creative can win multiple times. I’m a true platform-agnostic creative who is comfortable with big risks and who has tried a bit of everything. And I did it in agencies of all sizes—from the digital and tech-oriented like Digitas and Razorfish to powerhouses like Goodby Silverstein and Partners. From legacy organizations like Leo Burnett and Lowe Worldwide to founder agencies like The Community.

rogerbaran@mac.com