Today we’d like to introduce you to Denver McQuaid
Hi Denver, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Denver McQuaid has been building
As the son of an investigative journalist who covers crime, corruption, and reveals the hidden underbelly to the world’s problems, He felt drawn to a different side of media & entertainment. The fun & happy shit.
While he emphasizes his respect to those like his dad who push the envelope in search of the truth, Denver knew his calling was to bring happiness to the world through art & entertainment.
Always a creative kid, at the age of 13, Denver started spray painting airsoft guns to mimic popular Call of Duty designs and filmed the process for YouTube. “Creating a piece of art & sharing it with the world almost instantly became an incredible thrill”, McQuaid said. He jokes, “maybe it was the spray paint fumes, but I saw the vision and kept pursuing the life as a creative artist”.
Denver quickly became infatuated with the would of graphic design, visual effects, and motion graphics. Getting his start in underground gaming worlds of Call of Duty & Rainbow Six E-Sports teams years before the industry would gain any public attention, Denver fell in love with the world of graphic design and video editing, especially visual effects.
Being inspired by incredible Creators like Zach King & Kevin Parry, in 2015 Denver decided to pursue social media as a Creative challenge. After finishing his freshman year of college, Denver set out to create #AVineADay for over 120 days. In an effort to battle against self-doubt and clinical depression, Denver needed a challenge to prove to himself he was creative enough to “make it” in this world. “Whatever that meant to me at 18”, McQuaid mentions.
In his own words, “most of the videos sucked. Well, they were fine at the time but aren’t in any demo reels now. But that was the point”. While many of his friends pursued short films that took months or years to finish, Denver saw the opportunity to create social media content on the fly and get as many reps in as possible. “If I made +200 videos, and only 10% were any good, I’d have more than enough for a demo reel by the time I graduated”, McQuaid said. His plan worked.
By the end of the summer, McQuaid had reached millions of views on Vine, was flown to Los Angeles for VidCon, and signed with a talent agency. “None of which had been really considered when I started”, McQuaid said.
After college, Denver moved to Los Angeles in 2018 and began working on digital marketing campaigns with some of the world’s biggest brands and celebrities. From animating explosions & gore for a “SOLVE”, a top-rated murder mystery show on Snapchat at the time, to directing marketing campaigns for Ralph Lauren, Amazon Alexa, TikTok, Tiësto, PopSockets and dozens more.
However, Covid put a stop to the freelance life and he had to pivot fast. “While the world was shutting down and gigs dried up, I thought the perfect industry to get into was the video game industry. I began applying and shortly after I landed an in-house digital marketing job at Activision working on Call of Duty: Mobile” McQuaid recalls.
Exactly 10 years after starting his creative pursuits because of Call of Duty, Denver was now working for them directly. However Denver began thinking, “my career had come full circle by the age of 23. It was incredible. But now what?”
In 2021 McQuaid left his “dream job” at Activision to start his own social media marketing agency, Digital Magician Studios. “Let me tell you, the entrepreneurship life ain’t for the weak. This decision to go out on my own and hire others has taught me more, faster, than any other job or college class ever could”, McQuaid says.
In the last 3 years running Digital Magician Studios, Denver & his team have helped world class brands build robust & profitable social media marketing campaigns on TikTok, Instagram, Meta, and Google Ads amassing over 270 million views across their campaigns.
Denver attributes the team’s success to consistency. “The most consistent part of this journey has been that your consistency affects your success the most. If you fall off, the world moves on. If you keep going, even during the tough times, good times lie ahead”.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
This city & career path is full of challenges and set backs. I love Los Angeles and don’t see myself living anywhere else at this stage of my life, but damn this city will test you.
The freelance life is feast or famine. Your competition is only ever getting stronger. Your ability to build relationships that last for years are your biggest success factor.
For every project we’ve had incredible success at, there’s projects that don’t go as smoothly for a wide range of reasons not always in our control. But with each step backwards you learn how to better prepare for your next step forwards. Learning how to process and manage those moments has been the biggest life lesson I’ve experienced thus far.
Aside from my marketing agency, I’ve started several other companies that have failed in the camera accessory and mobile game niches. Though it’s easy to look at those pursuits as “money and time wasted”, the connections, experiences, and lessons learned from actually trying something new, failure or not, is worth every penny. Each failure makes the next execution stronger. You will never win from the sidelines. Test, learn, iterate.
The world of social media often only highlights the glamorous wins of life and business. But those wins come off the back of hundreds of failures in the pursuit of greatness. Those who fail more than others even try, will win. Though I don’t share every aspect of my life online, I often speak about men’s mental health, the struggles of life lessons, and pull back the curtain on a lot of projects I work on. Transparency and honesty build the most trust in your audience and relationships.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
The team and I at Digital Magician Studios help brands and public figures create thumb-stopping content and digital ads for social platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Meta, and Google Ads.
My career started out as a video editor with a focus in visual effects & motion graphics. While I still take on those jobs for the art and keeping the skills sharp, I’ve progressed into various Social Media Creative Director roles across various niches working with small & large teams of Creators, artists, and in-house management to bring ideas and profitable campaigns to life.
Our team’s visual effects background allows us to think in unique ways on how to best present and deliver content that outperforms the norm. When you encourage curiosity from your audience, you’re inviting them into an experience and not a sales pitch. This builds community which drives higher engagement, sales, and impressions across your entire digital marketing strategy.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
Before pursuing the creative world of video editing, I was studying to become a civil engineer. I love learning how things work and deep diving into a wide range of technology, engineering, space, and science topics are common hobbies of mine.
Though I run a marketing agency and play an energetic goofball online, my ultimate career goal is to own an amusement park creating joy and entertainment for future generations to experience together.
I’m immensely passionate about bringing joy and entertainment to the world’s of others. If we can laugh & play together, we can live together.
Pricing:
- Influencer Marketing done for you starting at: $50,000 campaigns
- Social Media Strategy Consulting: $129/session
- Creative Director (project dependent)
- Video Editing / Graphics: $500/day
Contact Info:
- Website: https://denvermcquaid.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denvermcquaid
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@denvermcquaid
