James Crews

Brooklyn, NY

Lifelong tinkerer. I love helping family, friends, brands and companies find a better way to do things. Sometimes for money, sometimes just because.

Experience

1. Marketing Director, C.L. Boyd
   2018 - present · remote from Brooklyn

   Marketing for an Oklahoma John Deere dealership: search, content, paid media, recruiting, and the data work behind them.

   5× John Deere Onyx Circle dealerC.L. Boyd has won Deere's award for its top-performing construction dealers in the U.S. and Canada five times, including 2019 and 2021. 5× Oklahoma Top WorkplaceNamed a Top Workplace in Oklahoma five years in a row, announced January 2023.
2. Blockchain consultant, WongDoody
   2023 · freelance, with the London team
   Charlotte's memory · 2:06

   Wild & Precious

   UK Dementia Research Institute · 2023 · with WongDoody

   A campaign about how dementia hits women harder. Women living with it, caring for someone with it or losing someone to it shared their favorite memories, and I helped with the blockchain side: the films are stored on Arweave with a marker for each one on the bitcoin blockchain, and QR codes in the campaign point to them. See Charlotte's on the chain, watch Nenitia's memory or read about it in The Drum.

   Iran Prison Project

   Iranian Diaspora Collective · 2023 · with WongDoody

   A 3D version of Evin Prison in Tehran you can walk through in a browser, built from the verified testimony of former political prisoners. Voice actors read the accounts to protect the people who gave them, next to original art from artists who went through Iran's prisons. I helped put four of those testimonies on the bitcoin blockchain as raw text, each with a note about the project, in one wallet so more can be added later. See one of them on the chain, visit the project or read about it in Creative Review.

   Creative Review Annual 2024, Honourable Mention
3. TD Ameritrade
   Oct 2012 - May 2023 · New York metro
   Global Marketing

   Aug 2018 - May 2023

   • Helped set up the digital marketing practices and policies for TD Ameritrade's expansion into new countries.
   Senior Manager

   Oct 2012 - Aug 2018

   • Managed social media marketing, the paid media program and the outside agency teams.
   • Sponsorship and influencer programs with the NFL and the U.S. Olympic Committee, including the 2014 and 2016 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams.
   Case film · 1:56

   First Ad in the Blockchain

   TD Ameritrade · 2018 · with Havas New York

   TD Ameritrade was launching access to bitcoin futures and wanted credibility with crypto traders. The ad itself is ASCII art spread across 68 bitcoin transactions, written into the chain for good. I was responsible for the digital strategy and the rollout on the TD Ameritrade side.

   Cannes Lions 2018, two Bronze Lions The One Show 2019, Gold Pencil 4A's Jay Chiat Awards 2018, Silver D&AD 2019, shortlist

   Film · 1:58

   Cats in the Cradle

   TD Ameritrade · Father's Day film · with Havas New York

   A short film that rewrote the lyrics of the old song so the dad is there for his kid. It ran on Facebook and Twitter ahead of Father's Day.

   Clio Music 2017, shortlist The One Show 2018, Merit Shorty Awards finalist, Medium-Length Video
4. Co-Founder & President, Media Refined
   May 2007 - Dec 2016 · Brooklyn and Wichita, KS
   • Owned and operated a group of health and lifestyle sites, including DietsInReview.com.
   • Grew DietsInReview with social, SEO, paid search and partnerships, then sold it.
   • Self-funded, with five full-time staff and about ten freelancers.
5. Co-Founder & President, CharitySub
   Oct 2011 - Dec 2014 · Brooklyn

   Collective giving at five dollars a month. About a thousand subscribers and over $60,000 given to 100 charities.

6. Adjunct Professor, University of Oklahoma
   Jan 2011 - Jan 2012 · Gaylord College

   Taught a senior-level digital media course.

7. Monetization Specialist (consultant), Yahoo!
   Dec 2007 - Dec 2008

   Advertising products to monetize Yahoo! Finance.

8. Media Buyer to Client Service Engineer, Avenue A | Razorfish
   Apr 2005 - May 2007
   • Worked on the AstraZeneca interactive account.
   • Early emerging media work: video on demand, podcasts and mobile.
9. Assistant Media Planner, Draftfcb
   2004 - 2005 · New York

   First agency job in New York.

Side projects

• HealthBridge - my first App Store app. It exports Apple Health data to plain daily files and has no networking code in it.
• A local AI podcast - a daily news show written, voiced and mixed on one desktop in my office.

Credentials

• Applied Generative AI for Digital Transformation - MIT Professional Education, 2026
• Journalism, Advertising - University of Oklahoma, Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication, 2004