Sean

Benton

Partner / Executive Creative Director

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As an agency, we do our best work at the opposite ends of a certain spectrum: Either taking topics that everybody is talking about and finding ways to make them singular and fresh, or taking ephemeral, hard-to-grasp products or services and making them real, relatable and desirable.

STORY

Sean possesses a combination of strategic, creative and tactical thinking that’s rarely found in one person (or one agency, for that matter). Having worked with clients across industries and sizes — from local nonprofits to global professional services firms, consumer products to highly charged issues — and having created brand platforms, go-to-market strategies and campaigns utilizing everything from AR apps to gamified events to ads in every medium, Sean has an innate ability to piece it all together in ways that create surprise, emotional connection and tangible results.

 

To understand why Sean’s such a natural at what he does, it’s helpful to understand his passions out in nature.

 

There’s fly-fishing: A quietly focused pastime that involves insinuating himself into the natural environment such that fish don’t even know they’re being pursued until they’re hooked. Then there are Sean’s beloved bird dogs: Endlessly energetic, they bound into tall grass and, with keen focus and situational awareness, flush out whatever they’re after.

 

Part bird dog, part fly-fisher: That’s pretty much Sean. He knows how to look at a complex landscape and chart the most direct path to success. He knows how to put himself in the place of clients and their audiences; and help connect them in ways that feel so right and natural, the result doesn’t really feel like marketing at all.

 

And at the end of the day, it helps that he knows how to confit a pheasant you’ll never forget.

CONVERSATION STARTERS

Mini horses. Actually, don’t just ask him about them. Hire him to make an ad with them. #CreativeDirectorLifeGoals

 

Sean’s extensive travel itineraries revolve around restaurants. Name a big city and a cuisine, and Sean probably has an epic meal tale to tell.

 

Making large game animals small. And cooking them.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

High Country News board member (past)
Five Valleys Land Trust 
board member / communications chair; banquet volunteer (past)
Guest speaker 
UM nonprofit management students, local nonprofit organizations, UM MBA Weekends, American Association of State Compensation Insurance Funds
Montana Ambassadors Association
member 

EDUCATION

Hamline University B.A., English

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