Rudy Willingham on showcasing creativity through personal projects

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Rudy Willingham runs an agency with a focus on making ads people want to see, not have to see, and previously worked at WONGDOODY and DNA in Seattle. Rudy's creative work has been featured on ESPN, NBC, and Yahoo, and he has over 75,000 Instagram followers and over 750,000 TikTok followers. Brian Bosche talks to Rudy about why he started his own agency, how he developed his creative focus, how to build a social following, and why creatives should showcase their creative work through personal projects.

Full Transcript:

Brian Bosche:
Hey everyone. Welcome back to the Creative BTS podcast. This is Brian Bosche your host as always. Today I am so excited to bring on Rudy Willingham, one of my favorite creators, creatives that I've been following for years, if you don't know his work, he does these incredible cutouts and all sorts of other creative applications in the real world. Rudy, thank you so much for joining.

Rudy Willingham:
Hello, I'm happy to be here. Thanks for having me.

Brian Bosche:
Yeah, and so you're the CEO of RudyCorp? I love RudyCorp [crosstalk 00:00:48].

Rudy Willingham:
Yeah.

Brian Bosche:
I have to mention it.

Rudy Willingham:
Yep, CEO of RudyCorp. So yeah, I basically manage a team of myself. Yeah RudyCorp gives it a prestigious feel, like we're worldwide.

Brian Bosche:
It sounds like you're a superhero villain almost. Like the CEO of RudyCorp, we're going up against them.

Rudy Willingham:
Totally. I mean, so part of it is obviously that it's funny but part of it's like I do so many different things. Do a lot of advertising stuff. I also have a store that I sell art, and I'm also a DJ, and I make music. So it like makes it feel big, but yeah.

Brian Bosche:
That's great. So yeah, let's jump into your background a little bit.

Rudy Willingham:
Cool.

Brian Bosche:
You've done a lot of things in the creative and marketing world over the last decade or more. So just walk us through a little bit about your different steps before trying to take over the world at RudyCorp.

Rudy Willingham:
So yeah, out of college, got a marketing degree at UW, then started working at Wongdoody, one of the big ad agencies in Seattle. Then started in new business strategy, then became a copywriter and got into more creative stuff there. Then I moved over to DNA for a couple of years, right before I started RudyCorp. Yeah, I mean, working at an ad agency is really, especially if you're in the creative department, it really... really good way to exercise your creative muscle every single day.

Rudy Willingham:
I think anyone that's worked in advertising knows that the most frustrating part of it is really, really hard to sell through good ideas. It's because clients a lot of times can be pretty conservative and they want to play it straight and safe, which I get it, and you don't want to get fired but as a creative, you want to do stuff that's out there and crazy. So I think that's what led me to start my own thing. I just felt like this wasn't... I just felt like I wasn't making anything cool, so.

Brian Bosche:
Yeah, because you also have to work through all the layers of the account team and everyone else before you even get to the client, right?

Rudy Willingham:
Yeah, I remember working on some projects at Amazon and mapping out the layers of approval it would take to get the idea made. I think it was like 15 or 20. I was just like, oh, I'm fucked. How am I ever going to get through 15 people when only one of them needs to say they don't like it?

Brian Bosche:
And then you're out.

Rudy Willingham:
I know, then you're out. I'm like, that's just too many layers of approval. So yeah. I mean, so I guess that's what led me to start my Instagram account. What really happened was I started my Instagram, just frustrated creatively, so I started an Instagram account where I could just do creative stuff and no one could say no. So it started blowing up, and then people would follow me, and people that worked in marketing departments at other companies, and they'd hit me up to do work. So I was like, man, I just need to go on my own. It's nice because when people hire you and they're already fans of you, you've already sold in the creative idea.

Brian Bosche:
Exactly.

Rudy Willingham:
They're hitting you up to do what you do. So I don't need to sell it really, it's like most people are just like, "Hey man, we love what you do. Do that for us." So I'm like, "Yeah, for sure." So yeah. I mean, that's been just growing a social media following, it's just been a game changer for me.

Brian Bosche:
Yeah, it's been interesting to follow you because I've been following your Instagram, I'm one of those people that you reached. It started on Instagram, that was the first channel you went after?

Rudy Willingham:
Yeah.

Brian Bosche:
[crosstalk 00:04:46].

Rudy Willingham:
I was actually doing a lot of drone stuff at first.

Brian Bosche:
Yeah, that was my question, is your style has changed so much. There's this incredible photography where you're like, okay, this is Instagram. Then it moves to cutouts, but I don't want to just call it cutouts, because you do so much more than cut out photography. How would you describe what your style has turned into?

Rudy Willingham:
I guess, yeah there's two forms. Where the first one is my cutouts where I'll take a paper cutout and I'll hold it up in front of a local landmark and transform it into something else. Using forced perspective, [inaudible 00:05:23] I'm at Smith tower. I hold a little paper cut out of King Kong next to Smith tower and it looks like King Kong is huge now and he's climbing Smith tower or whatever. So that's been a fun way to put a spin on local landmarks. I think my goal was always just do something different. When you're on an Instagram, you've seen the same shots in the same places, same angles. When I was doing drone stuff, it was just hard to separate, it was hard to do anything unique because everyone's doing the same stuff. So this is my way to do a different spin on it.

Rudy Willingham:
Then I'm also doing more street art stuff, which is like, I'm putting up stickers on walls and playing with different parts of the environment. So I guess it's a form of collage art, I guess you would say. It's very analog, there's not [inaudible 00:06:19]. I do post-processing in white room and stuff, but there's not Photoshopping. I'm actually bringing the cutout with me. I think people like... it just gives it [inaudible 00:06:31] feel. It's different, I think it makes it a little more childlike, I think. I think people like the childlike imagination, part of what I do. I think I'll see like a pipe on a wall and be like, that looks like an elephant trunk and then I'll put an elephant head next to it and then it turns into an outfit. So it's like I'm reactivating that part of your brain when you're a kid.

Brian Bosche:
So the first one that I see on your Instagram feed as I go down is this beaver at Rainier Tower obviously, because it's the most unstable building. I hated every time I walked by it, which you see that inspiration, it's knowing away at it. Was that the first one? What was the initial inspiration to do the cutouts with the forced perspective?

Rudy Willingham:
So that's where I used to work, DNA. So I would work in that building, always like, just looks like a Beaver has like chewed off the bottom of the building. So what actually, so I was doing drones then. Anything you'd want to take a picture of basically now is illegal to take a picture of with a drone so I was over that. I just always liked since I was a teenager, been super, super into street art. So just using something in your environment as a part of the art. So I thought this, and then I also... You know those photographs we pulled up, like you'd hold up a picture of the space needle in the '60s up to like the current day and line it up perfectly so it's like a [inaudible 00:08:11]. So I took the street art with that photography style, and then that's how I started doing the cutouts. But yeah, so that was the first one and once I got some good reaction, I immediately knew this is the only one I want to go and I'm just going to... I had tons of ideas from just laying around for the last couple of years. So I just switched one day from drone to that and yeah, it's worked out.

Brian Bosche:
Have you ever done drone forced perspective? Put a little cutout up on the drone camera?

Rudy Willingham:
I think the wind from the propellers would make the paper go crazy. I've never done that. I stopped doing drone stuff. [inaudible 00:09:00] I'm sorry, it got so frustrating. [crosstalk 00:09:02] stressed out.

Brian Bosche:
Yeah, drones are annoying. Yeah, it's too hard now.

Rudy Willingham:
Yeah, [inaudible 00:09:08].

Brian Bosche:
Yeah, so what cutout, what image that you've done has gotten the most... I'm going to start with, I'm going to go through a couple of these cutout questions. What was the most famous one? What got you the most recognition? I know you've been featured in a ton of places, but which one really took off that you can remember back to?

Rudy Willingham:
The first one that took off, went super viral was the Russell Wilson elevator. So put a sticker of Russell Wilson on one end of the elevator and then when the doors shut football was on the door so it looked like he was throwing a football to [inaudible 00:09:43]. So I posted that and then that just got posted on ESPN, Yahoo, it was just went insane. That was the first super viral one I had, so that's... I always look to that one and be like, that was cool.

Brian Bosche:
Now, I don't want to... You transitioned from Instagram to TikTok where you've to also taken off on TikTok. Was this the first TikTok one you did?

Rudy Willingham:
No.

Brian Bosche:
Because you've always done images, but you did this one as a video, which I was like, oh, maybe TikTok inspired you a little bit to do video versions of these, and then it took off.

Rudy Willingham:
That was way before I joined TikTok, I think maybe even, yeah, that was probably eight months before I joined TikTok. I think that I did it because like I was talking about before, I've always been into string art, so actually leaving stuff up in the environment or whatever. There reason I thought it was super cool was because it added in movement to the art, whereas it's almost like the art's coming alive when the elevator door opens this ball comes out and it's like, just give it a whole new element that's a plot I thought was super, super cool. But yeah, that blew up.

Rudy Willingham:
Then I got connected with the Seahawks and did some stuff actually in the stadiums during games, which was really fun. Yeah, that was the first one that blew up, I think. Then my most recent one to get super big was this Terminator Corvette where I turned my tail lights, my Corvette taillights into his eyes and same kind of thing with Russell with the movement. When you hit the brakes, the eyes lights light up. So I think that, I think anytime you can add movement in it, it brings the art to life and I think people really connect with it.

Brian Bosche:
Was your People Magazine, Sexiest Man Alive. That one didn't go ultra viral?

Rudy Willingham:
That one did too.

Brian Bosche:
Why not, Rudy? Oh, that one did too? Okay, good.

Rudy Willingham:
No, it did, it did, yeah. That one went pretty viral on Reddit. Then yeah, that one did pretty well everywhere. That was a fun one too. I think anytime I add something different, like oh, now I'm using a mirror and like adding myself into it. So I'm always trying to look for ways to expand what I'm doing and put twists on it, do something new because even though I think what I'm doing is different, I always got to be trying to push it, [inaudible 00:12:15] different stuff, so.

Brian Bosche:
Which one is your favorite personally? Which one were you really proud of?

Rudy Willingham:
I'd said, I think Russell Wilson, the Terminator one for sure. Same stuff. My goal is really to connect with people and make people's day a little better by watching something fun online. I think I get, when it connects and it goes viral, it's like, you feel so much of the internet is such a negative place now that if you can just add some stupid fun to it, it makes things a little better.

Brian Bosche:
Yeah, definitely. I think the ones that I've enjoyed most that are just so visually striking are your tulip series that I think it's Roozen Garden, right, or Roozengaarde? I'm still new to Washington.

Rudy Willingham:
Yeah.

Brian Bosche:
I know it's super famous, but the family portraits, there were absolutely stunning. You've done a lot of flower work with different celebrities, which I think also looks incredible. You just did one with Sue Byrd where you're incorporating the forest behind. You've done Kobe, but yeah, I think that the Roozengaarde ones were absolutely beautiful. Was that a client that you worked with specifically that saw your work and wanted to integrate that more with their customers and visitors?

Rudy Willingham:
So yeah, so basically what happened was that the coronavirus hit I think the weekend that Washington shutdown was the week that Tulip Festival was supposed to start. I know one of my college friends married into the and Roozen family and he knew that I did a bunch of social media marketing. So he hit me up and is like, "What can we do here? No one can come visit the tulips this year, so we need some way to connect with people." So I was like oh, it would be really cool to take people's family portraits or wedding photos or whatever, and cut out pieces of their clothes and then fill that in with the flowers. So it'd be like you're still experiencing the garden a little bit.

Rudy Willingham:
It was really good for them because they got a bunch of free social content because any time when people would send me their family photos, I'd send it back and then they'd posted online. So it was a lot of organic reach that they got that they didn't have to pay for. It was fun because most of the stuff I'd done before was really pop culture or celebrities, but it was cool to do stuff for just regular old people. They were just so appreciative like, "This made me cry," or... it was really cool to see all the messages, and yeah, it was good for the garden too. That was like a really, really crazy time right when everything shut down. So it was fun to just do something positive, and stuff like that, where people can hire me to do some family portraits of them. I want to do an ongoing thing like that, like I do a shoot once a month or whatever, and I can do cutouts of whoever, but yeah, I just haven't gotten to it yet.

Brian Bosche:
Yeah, so let's just focus on more of the creative clients you have at RudyCorp and not as much of the DJ sets and all the other things you do under the umbrella. But for those clients specifically, I don't know if this is still your tagline or not, but I love it. It's, make the ads people want to see. Is that still it?

Rudy Willingham:
Yeah, yeah. Ads people want to see, not have to see.

Brian Bosche:
People want to see. So can you talk to a little bit about what inspired that type of mission or a differentiator even from other agencies or other creators that clients could work with?

Rudy Willingham:
Yeah, I think working at agencies and with clients, I think a lot of people really focused on what... When they start a creative project, they focused on what do we want to say? It's like, yep, it's hitting all the points, it's talking about all the features here, but it's like, if no one wants to see it, no one's going to hear what you're trying to say. Right? So I just always thought, I've never seen a good ad that wasn't entertaining. Right? So I just think people like need to put themselves in their audience's shoes a little more and be like, if I was not working on this product or it [inaudible 00:16:58], why would I give a fuck about what we're saying here?

Rudy Willingham:
So I think when I did try to do something with my Instagram or TikTok, whatever, it's like, why would people want to see this? If they wouldn't, I don't post it. That's why I've never, with my Instagram, they don't care what I'm eating for breakfast, they want something that's entertaining and fun. So I think with companies too it's like, yeah, I think it's just the same thing. It's like, be respectful of your audience's time, if you're going to play them something, have it be cool.

Brian Bosche:
Yeah, and my favorite one was my sister-in-law Skyler works for the Sounders. So when they were making it to the MLS cup last year and you did the different cutouts and street art around Pioneer Square, that was really fun. It was really fun. We were walking around and trying to find it. I know you put a bunch of them up around the neighborhood and you had some on your Instagram, but that was a really fun, like you're talking about, activation where it was wonderful to discover it in real life and just made you love. It felt like the city was really supporting the Sounders as we were making it to the Cup and then eventually won the MLS Cup. So I think that was the favorite one that I've seen so far.

Rudy Willingham:
Yeah, that was really fun to put stuff in along the March the Match and then walk around and see people experienced it. I think the element of surprise was really fun. Were like, you don't know you're about to see some art, but we're [inaudible 00:18:32] everyday things and yeah, that was super, super cool and such an amazing day. But yeah, I think yeah, I think it just goes back to doing fun stuff that people appreciate. It's a little different than just slapping a poster on a wall. It's like go Sounders. So yeah, that was pretty cool too because it was my first really high visibility project [inaudible 00:19:08] turned out really good and opened the doors for other brands and sports teams. [inaudible 00:19:16].

Brian Bosche:
I think that is such a good point that you made earlier where, because you were so visible through your own personal social media channels, it attracts people into your style right off the bat. If someone wants to work with you, they already know what they're getting into and know what you can do. They're much more likely to embrace your ideas, which it sounds like that's what happened with the Sounders. So does that... yeah, go ahead.

Rudy Willingham:
They were basically like, "Here's your budget." I was like, "What do you want me to do?" They were like, "Just do what you do." We didn't have rounds of creative reviews or anything like that. I was like, "This is what I want to do." They were like, "Cool, do it." So yeah, [inaudible 00:19:57] just like your point. I just yeah, my social following has been everything. I don't send new business emails, I don't make sales calls, I don't do anything. I pitched them, I pitched people ideas that are outside of the scope of what you see on my page. Not everything I do is like cutouts, but for the most part, I think people get my vibe and if they're hiring me then they're they get it, I guess. I guess you could say.

Brian Bosche:
Well, let's talk about your social then, as your marketing channel. You have almost 75,000 followers on Instagram. Are you up to 800,000 on TikTok yet?

Rudy Willingham:
750 on TikTok.

Brian Bosche:
Oh, Rudy, come on. You're slacking.

Rudy Willingham:
I know, I know.

Brian Bosche:
You can't. Why aren't you at a million? This is ridiculous.

Rudy Willingham:
I know, I need to step it up.

Brian Bosche:
But you're up to yeah, 750,000 on TikTok. You go viral on Reddit all the time. What does that mean? You have a lot of karma?

Rudy Willingham:
Yeah, I have a lot of karma. You don't get followers on Reddit, but yeah, it's pretty fun. Reddit, that's a tough cookie to crack. So when it does, it's good. It actually does come back and help your social because a lot of people will see it on Reddit and then posted on their social channel, and so.

Brian Bosche:
Yeah, yeah, that's true.

Rudy Willingham:
Yeah. So yeah, I always get the most proud when something goes viral on Reddit because I feel like it's a tough audience.

Brian Bosche:
It's so hard, yeah.

Rudy Willingham:
Yeah, It's a tough audience. Yeah.

Brian Bosche:
So we've talked about how you use your social to get clients and it even helps you say hey, here's my style. It's almost your online portfolio. What advice would you give to younger creatives as they approach their different social channels to get more clients and to grow themselves and their personal brand?

Rudy Willingham:
Yeah, I think that, I mean the biggest thing I realized early was like, prove your creativity through side projects, gain a following there, and then you'll get good clients. I think it's hard. I worked in advertising for 10 years. No one knows what I think or how my art works. So I need to just do it. So I would say do a lot of personal projects and try to gain a following that way, and try to get on TikTok because that's how you can actually get a following. Then just be different, [inaudible 00:22:25] make stuff people want to see. Just ask yourself like, well would I want to see this? So yeah. I mean, yeah, I would say if you're an artist, a creative person, and you want clients, and you want to make it work, you can prove to people that you can create it by building a personal following. Or get copywriters to get on Twitter and start killing it.

Brian Bosche:
Have you put together-

Rudy Willingham:
[crosstalk 00:23:01] .

Brian Bosche:
Have you put together any personal formulas? I know for my TikTok when I started, I was like, all right, I have a goal of making two videos a day, I just want to stay consistent, I want to hit this specific topic. Do you have a personal formula that you follow to help grow your following and get content out there?

Rudy Willingham:
Not really. I'm more of free wheeling. I just let my... when I feel like doing it, I do it or when I have time to do it, I do it. I don't have super regimented, you just got to let your inspiration take you wherever it wants to go. I mean, if I had some regiment with drone photos and I was like, I'm going to focus on this, I wouldn't have gone off and done my own thing. So no, I don't but maybe I should maybe.

Brian Bosche:
No, I just-

Rudy Willingham:
Maybe I should have you. [crosstalk 00:23:59].

Brian Bosche:
My goal was, mine was twice a day because I had a 45-minute bus ride to Bellevue in the morning and a 45 bus ride to Seattle on the way home at night. So it was two videos for those two bus rides. So it was more of a time killer than anything.

Rudy Willingham:
Nice, nice.

Brian Bosche:
Yeah, but thank you. Thank you, commute.

Rudy Willingham:
How did you figure out how to do all that iPhone stuff? Because I didn't know all this stuff. Yeah.

Brian Bosche:
Yeah, I started out my TikTok on the bus rides obviously, and was just doing stupid things. I would do like... I didn't find my unique voice. So it was just travel video, sports, it was all over the place. Then I thought about all right, I build creative software, so I work with Adobe, I work in Smartsheet. I've worked with a lot of the top creative software providers in the world. Maybe I should focus on that. So just started doing these different creative tips and we started out as a creative agency. So there's just all... just saying forced perspective. What's forced perspective? Just doing a 15-second overview of what that is, or a 15 per second of different camera movements and video where you do pan for one or a dolly zoom, so I was just going basically through all of the different, tiny tips I learned in creative live classes and when I was in video production, and just started doing those over and over again.

Brian Bosche:
I did the iPhone photo tip and that one really took off because everyone has a phone. So that one was widely applicable, not just a, oh, dolly zoom. Oh, I don't have a camera with a zoom even so I can't really do it. So then I just started doubling down on that, doing the same format. You start to find... TikTok, I think more than any other platform helps you understand what makes content engaging because I'd make the intro too long, for example. I'd make the iPhone photo tip title card five seconds instead of two seconds and it would go nowhere because people would just tune out. So you start to understand people's attention spans and for a lot of your TikTok videos-

Rudy Willingham:
Totally.

Brian Bosche:
... you found this formula that's incredible where you get them in in the first couple seconds by walking up to where you're going to put this cutout and it leaves the suspense of, okay, I know Rudy does these cutouts. I know he's doing street art, what's he going to do with this thing? Then you have the reveal at the end and you're like, oh, that was so cool, and then you share it. So you start to understand what really engages people and that's why TikTok is so fun compared to other platforms.

Rudy Willingham:
Yeah, I totally agree. It's almost, yeah. With all the stuff that you're doing, just being on TikTok, I feel like I learned so much about photography and I feel like I'm going to film school or something.

Brian Bosche:
Yeah, it really helps.

Rudy Willingham:
So much of it's tips and you're just like, this thing's viral. Why did it go so viral? I did, when you were going back to the formula thing, I did realize when I first started and I was doing the street art thing, I was doing one piece of street art per video, and that wasn't doing as well because I feel like it didn't hold your attention. So now I do series of three, basically. So it's real fast. Boom, boom, boom. You want to know what the next one is and it helps you stay. If I had cut the videos and each video is just one of my pictures, I don't think they'd do as well, it does make it challenging to crank out videos when you have to do three pieces per, but.

Brian Bosche:
Well you could always do the three individually and then do the combo one. You see that all the time on TikTok

Rudy Willingham:
Yeah, for sure.

Brian Bosche:
Even if they're incredibly frustrated. Be like, "Hey, wait for part two to see the results." And you're like, Oh, just show me right now.

Rudy Willingham:
Yeah, for sure. But yeah, hopefully iPhones will have some sort of aperture settings one day, so I can do my cutouts from my phone.

Brian Bosche:
I know, well I had to do mine. I was trying to figure out how you did it until I saw that new segment on you and I'm like, oh, you're getting them laser cut. That's why they're... I was doing scissors on mine and I was like, oh, how are his so clean? Then you were doing them with... I was just doing them on my iPhone because I had no one with me and I couldn't figure out how to do it but yeah, I hope iPhones do because I tried to. When I did the cutout project with the Skybox Cards, and then I was trying to figure out how you kept both. I figured it out with that new segment. So yeah, that helped. I hope iPhone [crosstalk 00:28:12] soon.

Rudy Willingham:
Yeah, totally. Yeah, that's kind of the... it makes it hard when you open up the focus that much and went on a camera because it doesn't let in a lot of light. It makes things a little challenging, but yeah, I hope iPhones can do it soon because I'm lazy and I would rather just do it on my phone.

Brian Bosche:
I know, it was like, oh, serendipitously, this looks great. I'm just going to pull out my phone and do it.

Rudy Willingham:
That'll get there, man. The cameras are getting so good, but.

Brian Bosche:
Yes, they will. All right. To close this out, Rudy, we do this on every creative BTS podcast, it's the parting shot. So it's just one piece of advice you'd like to leave listeners with, leave the audience with, that you've learned from all the different creative work you've done. So what is your parting shot?

Rudy Willingham:
My partying shot, oh boy. Okay, let me think about this. I would probably say just be different. Don't do what everyone else is doing. Put some sort of spin on it. There's just too much content out there and if you make what everyone else is making, just you have no shot. So try to be different, I think. Then if you're in the creative world, do personal projects to prove how creative you are. Don't wait for a client to say yes. [inaudible 00:29:48]. So many of my ideas, I think and actually my cutout idea was an idea I had pitched to a client and they said, no. Then I was just like, fuck it I'm doing it myself. So those are my two pieces probably. Yeah.

Brian Bosche:
Yeah, love that advice. Well, thank you so much for coming on, Rudy. Best of luck with RudyCorp moving forward.

Rudy Willingham:
Yeah man. Yeah, man. Fun to talk to you and thanks for having me on.

Brian Bosche:
All right, bye.