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From Mad Ave Agencies to Mad Ave Freelance After 7 years working as a creative for some of the best agencies in New York, Follis began a freelance collaboration that started his entrepreneurial career. His freelance work helped win six accounts that helped start Kirshenbaum & Bond which went on to become a 450M agency. Relatedly, he helped create a dozen press-worthy ads for the then unknown shoe designer Kenneth Cole that helped Cole become an iconic worldwide fashion brand. Additionally, John's press-worthy work for his own clients was contributing to his reputation a top hired gun on Mad Ave. 
 Follis & Verdi Opens with a Splash John's reputation attracted a sales guy and soon Follis & Verdi splashed onto the scene with a hot, new account and press-worthy TV ad campaign. His creative work for obscure Sorrell Ridge Fruit Jam was so successful it was featured in Forbes, ADWEEK, CNBC and a Harvard Business School case study. New accounts (No Excuses Jeans, The American Stock Exchange, Solgar Vitamins) soon followed. So did creative awards and more press in USAToday, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. In '91, the duo had the unique experience of being honored at The White House for John's breakthrough national TV campaign addressing child abuse. And, 6-months later for the ad below, John was honored at The UN with a UN Public Service Award described as "the most prestigious international recognition of excellence in public service." The incredible story behind these campaigns is told in this short film narrated by John.  At 35 and just two years into Follis & Verdi, Follis found himself the creative force behind one of the hottest, young creative agencies in the country. 
 F&V adds a D In '93, just 4 years after its founding and with the addition of CD, Sal DeVito, the growing agency reached another pinnacle as the second most awarded agency in New York. Relatedly, John was named one of New York's "Best" by The NY Ad Club. 
 Follis 2.0 The same year that FDV reached its peak Follis did something that seemed crazy at the time. Sensing a major upcoming shift in the media landscape he walked away from his own successful agency to open a new agency dedicated to integrating award-winning creative with the new digital media. As a result, his new agency, Follis Inc, became one of the first in the country to do so and for the next two decades it provided clients with award caliber creative advertising and marketing solutions in all media. One campaign for an unlikely client was featured in The New York Times, USAToday, TIME, ADWEEK and even a Prentice-Hall marketing textbook. TIME described the campaign as "in your face" while ADWEEK called it "smart and effective." And, in a world where the average client-agency relationship lasts 1.5 years, that relationship lasted 16.  With the new millennium came yet another new business model, Follis Marketing Therapy one of the first online consulting business models. Via Skype, FMT addressed the growing needs of a 100 billion dollar market: entrepreneurial businesses. In the process the Follis brand expanded to a worldwide market. 
Follis 3.0 In '05, John coined the term G-Cred, for Google credibility, which came to national attention in his ADWEEK column. Staying on the leading edge of marketing and social media he added two more web properties in early '06: a blog: The Follis Report and podcast: "The Marketing Show with John Follis". In 2012, Follis Inc was acknowledged by the U.S. Commerce Association with an award recognizing it as a business that "has achieved exceptional success and has enhanced the image of small business through service to their customers." Additionally, John became a featured blogger for ADWEEK and Small Business Trends. As a thought leader he also continued to receive speaking requests at such venues as The Social Media Conference in Chicago, The World Business Academy, the 2012 New York Business Expo, and The Yale Entrepreneurial Institute. 2013: Adding a Big Idea With the exploding web video market John started Big Idea Video which included Explainer and Whiteboard style videos. In this TV interview with CH8-TV news anchor, Ann Nyberg, John discusses Big Idea Video and a recent public service project. 
Independent Film Projects In 2015, John began a video series, "True Stories in Advertising" which takes a humorous, inside look at Madison Ave based on his career. Completed in 2022, the 10-part series has been honored at 7 film festivals including ones in LA and NYC. In 2017, he wrote, directed and produced, "Leaving God" which received a "Best First-time Filmmaker" award at the Hollywood International Documentary Film Festival. Now featured on TopDocumentaryFilms.com it's been seen by over 38K people in 98 countries. In this interview John discusses the film and the motivation behind making it. 
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