He acquired years of creative acumen, first as a business-to-consumerthen business-to-business copywriter, then a copy contact and eventually as creative director of his regional boutique ad agency, Corporate Images, concentrating on services for small to medium size clients, many of whom were also founders of their own company.
Jim's midwest work ethic is as permanent as
his birth certificate. Tired of Chicago's brutal winters, he relocated his business in 1996 to
California's central coast where he continues
to serve clients on a contract basis as
Jim Sweas Creative Services, jimsweas.comcontributing as a marketing strategist and
writer & designer of print and digital assets
including sales collateral materials.
Tool Box:
• Adobe Creative Cloud (inDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, etc.)
• Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint)
• All Apple Data Processing and Presentation Software (Keynote)
• Weebly, Wix, Page Cloud and WordPress website builders
• Adherence to A.P. Writing Stylebook and Guidelines
• All popular email platforms (Constant Contact, Mail Chimp, etc.)
Project capabilities include:
• Write Broadcast and Video Scripts, Business Plans and White Papers
• Write, and supervise Recording & Editing of Audio/Video content
• Prepare Patent, Copyright and other Legal Documentation
• Create and Review Project Documentation and Proposal Preparation
• Create and Implement Branding and Marketing Strategies
• Create Digital and Print Consumer and B2B Ads, Brochures & Collateral
• Write Editorial and Backstory Content for Portfolio Websites
• Create Email and Newsletter Content
• Create Employee Orientation Manuals, Memos & Executive Summaries
• Create Logo Designs and Implement Fonts & Color Pallets System-wide
• Create Signage Systems and Trade Show Displays
• Video Production and Post Production Editing Supervision
• Write Media Releases, Blog Posts, Social Media Posts
• Write Business and Personal Biographies and Backgrounders
• Create New Business Presentations
• Write Product Reviews and Benefits Assessments
• Write, Speeches, Obituaries and Eulogies
• Create Recruitment Ads and Write Research Documentation
• Create Sales Prospecting Letters and Written Scripts
• Repurpose Print and Digital Assets for Various Media
• Create, Maintain and Distribute Corporate Style Guide Assets
• Maintain Required Standards to Recoup Maximum Co-op Dollars
Personal Philosophy:
"You are what your stuff looks like, and sounds like — every day. Pictures are pretty, but it's words that matter. Yeah, some pictures are still worth a thousand words. But it's the words that contain the fulfilled promises rather than illusions or aspirations. And it's words, whether printed or recorded, on screen or off that are the concrete that builds a strong foundation to bolster a client's all important authoritative voice.
"I excel at writing about and designing for successful enterprises, some of which I've been fortunate enough to help formulate or at least help steer into lucrative ideas worth pursuing.
"Often asked if I have a favorite client category, I can only say, look at both my oldest and newest Portfolios: Motor Werks Companies spans 28 years of work product, while Andy Caldwell for Congress 2020 is my most recent presentation. Both are satisfying in completely different ways. One is selling tangible products and services, the other is convincing readers to weight the impact of their vote.
"Most rewarding for me is the opportunity to acknowledge achievers, for their own accomplishments and those of their satisfied customers. These are the often overlooked, yet well deserved tributes for which most people will never receive attribution during their fleeting business careers.
"While I admire fiction writers, its the discipline of non-fiction that mostly appeals to me. Indulging time "making it up" is highly creative, but so is the truth well told. The storytelling. The anecdotes. It is the most satisfying literary contribution I choose to make. Try writing an obituary or eulogy — a summation of a life well lived, and you'll appreciate the satisfaction I'm talking about.
"When you've learned from fact-laden copywriting masters like David Ogilvy (his classic missive for Rolls-Royce, below) or Shirley Polykoff's playfully teasing 'Does she or doesn't she' long running campaign for Clairol hair color products — you are genuinely convinced that the more you avoid hyperbole and rely on the facts — the truth, simply stated in a fetching way — the more readers you will attract and persuade and the more products or services you will sell."
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