Michael Cruz
Michael Cruz is a Creative Director, entrepreneur, filmmaker and co-founder of Summer Friday, a creative agency working across strategy, creative and content.
The short version
- Who is Michael Cruz?
- Michael Cruz is a Creative Director, entrepreneur, filmmaker and co-founder of Summer Friday, a creative agency working across strategy, creative and content. He is based between New York and Connecticut.
- What does Michael Cruz do?
- He leads creative direction and brand strategy, and directs film and content, usually for businesses with complicated products or stories: financial services, healthcare, energy, technology and B2B companies.
- What is Michael Cruz’s relationship to Summer Friday?
- Michael co-founded Summer Friday and is a partner and creative lead there. Summer Friday is the agency; this site is his personal point of view and selected work.
- What industries has Michael Cruz worked in?
- Financial services, healthcare, energy and utilities, technology and B2B, plus the occasional thing that is easier to explain.
- What brands has Michael Cruz worked with?
- Including E*TRADE, National Grid, Katch and Hexion.
- What is Michael Cruz’s approach to creative direction?
- Find the one idea a normal person can repeat, make it clear before making it beautiful, and protect it all the way to launch.
The professional version
20+ years in advertising, content and creative direction.
Selected experience
E*TRADE, National Grid, Katch, Hexion, and others.
Currently
- Co-founder, Partner and Creative Director at Summer Friday
- Leadership role with the International ECHO Awards
- Nonprofit work
The other version
- Started early.
- Builds companies.
- Flies airplanes.
- Rides an old Triumph.
- Makes films.
- Meditates.
- Starts things.
- Occasionally disappears into the desert.
- Doesn’t like boring.
Other things I take unnecessarily seriously
- Airplanes
- Flies them. Will explain crosswind landings unprompted.
- Motorcycles
- Started on the small one. Now an old Triumph that is mostly reliable, mostly.
- Film
- Directs. Watches. Rewatches the opening titles twice.
- Meditation
- Twenty minutes a day. Thirty on deadline weeks.
- Building things
- Companies, mostly. Occasionally furniture, with less success.
- The desert
- No signal. Best ideas. Not a coincidence.
I don’t do all of this alone.
Summer Friday
Michael co-founded Summer Friday, a creative agency working across strategy, creative and content. Most of the work on this site was made there, with that team.
Michael on the Summer Friday site →Got something interesting?
Tell me what you’re working on. The weirder and more complicated, the better.