Director & Creative Director Ben Conrad Brings his Vision to Golden LA

Los Angeles-based creative director, business leader, and film/advertising director Ben Conrad brings his award-winning expertise to integrative studio Golden LA. Known for seamlessly melding the worlds of live action, animation, and VFX into wildly successful campaigns, Conrad’s 360° holistic approach to production is an ethos shared by Managing Director Matthew Marquis and the Golden LA team.

Conrad and Matthew Marquis have a rich history, having worked together at Logan Media, which Conrad co-founded before Marquis set out to launch Golden LA. There the two developed a collaborative shorthand, learning to communicate and produce genre-blending content in a streamlined way.

Off to an auspicious start since reuniting, Conrad served as executive creative director and director for the recently aired campaign for Cap’n Crunch. Golden LA was entrusted with the character design and animation for this important brand relaunch of the iconic Cap’n character, creating a total of 64 short films within a ‘choose your own adventure’ framework.

“It’s all about a great creative atmosphere,” says Conrad. “Matthew and I both believe strongly in investing personally in the work and we’re seasoned in navigating the continually shifting media landscape. It’s always been in our DNA to challenge the production standard with a more hybrid aesthetic.”

Additionally, a recent campaign for Best Buy, which Conrad also served as ECD and director on, reveals the level of work Golden LA and Conrad are able to execute together. The trilogy of spots largely incorporate live-action, animation and editorial in a prime example of COVID-era creation, with Conrad shooting the featured influencers remotely before adding in the animated features. Conrad is the founding partner and owner of creative studio GenPop, as well as Donut Media, one of the fastest growing channels in Automotive. Conrad will maintain his responsibilities at both companies while focusing his primary attention on creative projects at Golden LA.

As he explains, “When I created GenPop it was a vehicle to facilitate a wide range of creative endeavors and commercial projects, which included the visuals for Beyoncé’s Formation world tour to producing original films as well as campaign work. Working with Golden allows me to focus on the production and creative studio side and grow that with Matthew, while focusing specifically with GenPop on launching more channels in additional verticals, as well as continuing to create original material.”

Conrad has lived at the forefront of big entertainment and has continually defined it. He’s had an immense impact from viral video to the big screen, with his body of work including the iconic Apple “Silhouette” campaign, which AdWeek named Campaign of the Decade. He is also responsible for creating acclaimed film and TV title sequences for the likes of Zombieland, Avengers, Captain America 2, Iron Man 3, and the Amazon legal drama series Goliath.

Heavily invested in the ideation of concepts, Conrad has collaborated with international clients including Nike, BMW, and Ford. His Gymkhana film series featuring rally driver Ken Block was an internet sensation that garnered an astounding 200 million-plus views, and was named by AdWeek as the “most watched and most shared branded web franchise of all time.”

Matthew Marquis remarks, “Ben and I have always complemented one another professionally and we’re off to a roaring start in this new incarnation. We’re like-minded and have a certain fluidity in our communication that is hard to come by. I’m excited for him to focus his energy at Golden on being the most creative version of himself.”