CHARLIE HOPPER
Creative Director • Copywriter • Writer-writer
About
I’ve written and creative directed TV with big budgets, TV with little budgets, social, digital, print, outdoor. Radio. Various forms of content, retail-driven materials from point-of-purchase to, oh, you know—HTML email, collateral, those huge grids of character-count headlines for Meta or Google, everything, anything. I wrote the script for a gospel tour’s Christmas show, sponsored by McDonald’s. Anything.
Also: wrote a marketing column that appeared in every issue of Food & Drink from Summer 2011 to Fall 2021, and over the years contributed various op-eds and quotes about marketing in pubs like Adweek, Ad Age, The Wall Street Journal, and Nation’s Restaurant News. I wrote a restaurant marketing book that was recently released as a second edition. Since almost Day One I've received national awards and recognition that (fingers crossed) continues ’til now. That’s on top of co-producing, presentation-giving, mentoring and, as an adjunct college professor for 18 semesters, young-mind-molding.
You know, writer stuff.
(You can see some of my non-advertising-related writing under the "Not Marketing" tab, as the name suggests.)
I worked as senior writer at TBWA Chiat/Day (St. Louis) for two and a half years.
I worked as senior writer at Martin-Williams (Minneapolis) for two and a half years.
I worked as senior writer, creative director and agency principal at various times at Young & Laramore (Indianapolis) for thirty years.
My first job was as a copywriter at Caldwell VanRiper (Indianapolis) for a couple of years.
I graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Indiana University (B.A., English/journalism)
Contact
P: 317-435-4448
E: charlie@charliehopper.co (not com)
Mentoring
In addition to the day-to-day job of helping younger people as CD and agency principal, I also taught an advertising writing class at Butler University for 18 semesters.
A few student quotes:
“Best professor I’ve had. His working knowledge of the industry and the way he teaches has been incredibly beneficial. I will take everything I’ve learned in the class with me when I go.”
“Looking to take another course from Professor Hopper.”
“Best instructor I have had in [Butler’s College of Communication].”
“Charlie Hopper is a treasure. He is a real pro and a relaxed, entertaining lecturer.”
“Really, really enjoyed this class. No bullshit. No busywork. I grew as a writer tremendously during this time. Charlie is brilliant.”
“Thanks. Best professor at Butler.”
– sample “verbatims” written anonymously at the bottom of course evaluations by Butler University students in my advertising copywriting class, which I taught as an adjunct professor
And just for the heck of it, a note from a former colleague:
“I am very fortunate that Charlie was one of my first Creative Directors, right out of school. I learned a lot from him, to say the least. One thing that I think about frequently (weekly, even) is his approach to negative client feedback. One of the campaigns we were working on got set on fire (too strong?) and I was bereaved. But Charlie took it in stride. He told me that the only way to come out on top is to come up with better ideas. So that's what we did—we came up with something even better.
I think that's part of what makes Charlie a great creative thinker (and a good person to have on your side)—knowing for certain that there are always more ideas.”
– Penelope Dullaghan, illustrator and former colleague at Young & Laramore