Drew Lewis is a wizard, and he doesn’t wear pants. He successfully birthed and sold a web design and marketing company out of college, followed by a decision to head west in pursuit of extended excitement in the creative media circus we call Los Angeles.

He currently holds the role of New Media Director at Wunderman Irvine, where he leads the charge in emerging media, creativity, and spell casting. Drew continues to slip bourbon in his coffee while working on clients such as Shell Gasoline, Hilton Hotels, Land Rover, Dodgers Baseball, Southern California Edison, Toshiba Laptops, Jenny Craig, Callaway Golf, Southwest Airlines, Mattel, Solspot, Invisalign, Oakley and Special Olympics.

His accolades have included 3 Lester Wunderman Awards, Cannes Cyber Finalist, several Gold National ADDY Awards, ECHO Award, and WPPed Cream Award.

Drew has served on a broad spectrum of speaking engagements including SxSW, CES, Digi Day, Digital Hollywood, and locally for the OC Ad Federation. He also has been published in various online magazines and had given a variety of lectures.

Here are the highlights of my funky conversation with Drew:

Pre-Interview Chat

• 03:04 – About his campaign, Loyalty is Dead. Long Live Loyalty, his experience in South by Southwest (SxSW) , and the interesting topic, Get Verified or Go Home, which he had proposed for his next appearance,
• 09:54 – Sharing shows we both like to listen to such as stories about developing confidence until you can execute in This American Life and healing stories in Reset.me with Amber Lyon,
• 13:03 – Stories which inspire him, how he learns from other people, and how he shares the same struggles like we do in turning ideas into actions, and
• 19:55 – A discussion about the book, Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook and how the author, Gary Vaynerchuk, blew his mind during one of his talks.

Interview Proper

• 25:20 – His college background, how he started the company, FusionCorp Design, right after college, and how he took the leap of faith and ended in California to work in an advertising company,
• 32:20 – Researching and consuming content to get over being stumped,
• 35:50 – His learnings from his sculpture class about cutting losses and just moving on,
• 40:46 – How he makes his fears fade by having a bouncing board through his friends to talk his fears away,
• 43:12 – His choice between Willy Wonka and Richard Simmons and the key marketing take aways you can learn from the former,
• 45:40 – The high points in being in advertising including the parties and speaking engagements in South by South West, and
• 49:05 – Tips on how to get started in advertising, learning how to be creative despite of your background and tools which you can use to help you be more productive.