Meet Brad Weigle

Part man. Part internet. Part foosball champion. Brad Weigle is the cornerstone of the Drake Cooper digital realm. But he’s more than just a digital guru; Brad also runs the Backstage Pass internship program in which he has championed and molded many of Drake Cooper’s newest employees.

Q: Team Voldemort or Team Harry Potter?

A: Harry Potter. Why would anybody choose team Voldemort?

Q: Maybe you believe in the purity of wizardry.

A: But he loses in the end. I hate losing.

Q: If you were invited to the Drake Cooper Memorial Celebrity Professional Golf Scramble, who would be on your team?

A: The guys from Space Jam – Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Bill Murray.

Q: What gets you excited about work?

A: I get to act like an entrepreneur every day. It’s fun to be able to work in a creative environment solving business problems within a lot of different verticals. My worst fear is being chained to my desk in a cubicle repeating one task over and over again from 9 to 5. This is far from that.

Q: Advice for someone trying to get into advertising?

A: Become your own teacher. I think a lot of young people believe they just have to go to school, get a degree, and they will get a job. The people that are successful are the ones that learn outside the classroom. You can’t just go through the system and expect a job on the other side. Find something you love and become passionately curious about it.

Q: If you were in prison, would you be the gang leader, the snitch, the guy who can get things or the guy who gets stabbed within two days of being in prison?

A: The guy who can get things. He’s a rebel that skirts around the system. Not to mention everyone wants something from him, so he’s the safest.

Q: App that best describes you?

A: Evernote. A resource you can always turn to for good information. Organized, yet still a little messy.

Q: Official stance on turtlenecks or mock turtlenecks?

A: Let me start by saying I’ll never wear another one again. I took a lot of flak for wearing a maroon mock turtleneck a few years back. It earned me the nickname “The Mockness Monster” for awhile. But I do stand by my fashion decision. They’re extremely comfortable. I miss wearing my mock turtleneck.

Q: One lesson you have learned by working at Drake Cooper?

A: There are too many to count, but one of my favorites comes from our Executive Creative Director Jennie Myers, “We’re never done. We’re just out of time.”

Q: What has been something that has surprised you about running the Backstage Pass program?

A: The amount of energy that comes out of the Backstage Pass. I think we learn more from them than they do from us. We bring in 6 interns every year who are ambitious, willing to learn, and excited to be here. Every summer, it brings a whole new level of energy to the shop.

Q: Name of your autobiography?

A: How did Steve Jobs name his biography?

Q: He had it self-titled.

A: Then I want mine to be the same.

Q: So you want your book named Steve Jobs?

A: No, I meant… sure.

Q: When a hot dog expands, in which direction does it split and why?

A: Well if you’re a rookie, it splits from the center out, vertically. If you’re a pro, you know to poke holes in it with a fork beforehand, so it doesn’t split.

Q: How would you sell hot cocoa in Florida?

A: I’d sell it door to door. I like to think I can sell anything, and the pitch is one of the greatest highs in life.

Q: What’s your prediction for where the advertising industry will be in the next five years?

A: Same place it is now — telling stories, that will never change. The only difference will be the mediums in which we do it.