Jen Hays
LOS ANGELES • WORKING ACROSS THE US
I come in for the idea, run the team that builds it, and stay in the work through the end.
18 years across Droga5, AKQA, Saatchi & Saatchi, and BASIC/DEPT, plus in-house at Apple, Airbnb, and YINA.
BRANDS
Apple · Google · YouTube · Samsung · Verizon · T-Mobile · Levi's · lululemon · Under Armour · Puma · Target · Starbucks · Airbnb · Sandals Resorts · BetMGM · KFC · Chobani · Frito-Lay · Kraft · Prudential · UBS · Barbie · The Olympics
AWARDS
Cannes Lions · D&AD · Effie · One Show · Andy · Webby · Anthem · Full List —>
BetMGM (COMING SOON)
The category competes on sign-up bonuses. We showed up with Vegas.
LEVI’S • I SHAPE MY WORLD
Female athlete. Female director. Female CEO. I built the platform that asked 110 countries to drop the qualifier.
LEVI’S • VOTE ABOUT IT
We put Levi's in the middle of an election without putting it on a side.
LEVI’S • STYLE + SUSTAINABILITY
Everyone had a sustainability story. Ours had to stop the thumb and sell the jeans.
I made accessibility and joy the same brief.
CRICKET WIRELESS
I turned brand mascots into actors, and the client bought twice the spots.
GOOGLE • YOUTUBE
I turned "you have to get this" into something you could have before the video ended.
The fans wrote the ads. They thought they were writing App Store reviews.
APPLE PAY
People already tapped to pay. We just had to make them think of it as gifting.
AIRBNB • HELLO STRANGER PODCAST
The idea had no funding and no team. The deck I built got it both.
Verizon helps teachers immerse students in learning.
THE BROAD EXCHANGE
Female leaders turn talk into action to solve problems in the ad biz and beyond.
#IRESOLVE
The Broad Exchange harnesses the power of resolve to create positive impact.
The average American had $38,000 saved. The problem was never the math.
PRUDENTIAL CHALLENGE LAB TOOLS
Traditional financial calculators get a fun & interactive overhaul.
PRUDENTIAL LONGEVITY EXPERIMENT
How many years will your retirement savings actually last?
PRUDENTIAL OPTIMISM BIAS EXPERIMENT
How much can optimism prevent realistic planning for the future?
About
I came up through art direction and never left the craft behind. Eighteen years across Droga5, AKQA, Saatchi & Saatchi, and BASIC/DEPT, plus in-house at Apple, Airbnb, and YINA.
Lately I've been brought in by agencies for the part of the job that happens before anything is public: new business pitches, brand strategy, platform development, and the creative direction that follows once an account is won.
Also: I co-founded The Broad Exchange in 2009, a 501(c)(3) that started as dinner circles and is now a 3,000-member network of women and gender-diverse creatives, early career to C-suite.
And: AI sits inside how I concept, research, and produce. It moves things faster. It doesn't get to decide anything.