Monte Bowden knows a thing or two about advertising and marketing. He studied Communications in college and then worked in a TV News station for years, rising in the ranks from intern to news director.  He also served as an adjunct professor in communications at his alma-mater.  Monte joined AMPERAGE as a communications strategist, leading PR efforts for agency clients. And with his well-rounded background in storytelling, video production and management, Monte has worked in a variety of roles there.  He currently serves as a Creative Director – and is someone I’ve had the absolute pleasure of working with for many years now.

In the first part of our conversation, we spoke about a lot of different things, such as:

• How he developed his love of sound, starting with radio – and how it influenced the college he chose
• How radio led to working at a TV news station, learning a lot about video, writing, producing and managing
• How he started working with Amperage (hint: it had to do with a chance meeting in a grocery store!)
• The differences and similarities between working in TV News and working at an Ad Agency
• The use of wireless mics in the newsroom – and how that transformed the storytelling
• How storytelling factors in to his work now
• Emotional decision making
• How sound might best be used in fundraising and in advertising to draw someone in
• How everything works together – sound effects, good scripts and SILENCE
• Where music fits in (and how it should be thought of early in the process rather than later!)
• A case study about how he and his team came up with an ad for a hospital
• How technology would change the development of a commercial like this
• The story behind the NBC three note “audio branded” tone
• How sound can be described in writing – and how much more effective that can make it
• Designing sound for advertising

You can find more information on Monte and Amperage on their website at https://www.amperagemarketing.com and on Facebook at https://facebook.com/AmperageMarketing.

This episode was very skillfully made to sound beautiful by the talented Humberto Franco (http://www.humbertofranco.com/).