Check Out Peter Stougaard’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Peter Stougaard.

Hi Peter, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I moved from Michigan straight out of college and never looked back. My first job was with Disney Imagineering where I started in the equivalent of the graphic “Mailroom”. Eventually, I worked with Tony Baxter (the creative guy who was the closest thing the company had to a Walt Disney). He gave me chances/support and allowed me to make small movies and record music for the park.

After my Disney experience, I hung out with friends at their startup Ad Agency. At some point, they asked me to help them with some creative… and I loved it. Crazy clients, crazy hours… everything you’d imagine. The next startup I joined was BLT & Associates (no, they didn’t make sandwiches) they made movie posters… lots of them. I was there in their early days – now they’ve grown to 100s of employees. I really got to know the studio business side… which led me to DreamWorks. I was one of the first 150 employees there. It was magical. We were going to change the world. There I was the head of Creative for their Consumer Products division. It was a creative heaven and I learned to work with senior folks at the major retailers of the country Walmart, Target and others. It was always “creative problem solving” and managing people’s expectations. I stayed for five years… and wouldn’t trade it for anything. 20th Century Fox was my next adventure. I was a Senior Vice President of Creative Advertising.

Mostly I developed the posters for 100s of their movies – from Moulin Rouge to Avatar. I hired creative agencies, dealt with filmmakers, talent, agents, studio executives and even jumped on Photoshop if that was what it took to get the job done. After leaving the grind of the studio life (people would say, “you didn’t earn stripes – you have tattoos”!) I was very blessed, lucky and grateful to have those experiences. And I still work with them today producing outside projects when needed. I decided to jump into the world of digital… namely software development. First for the movies and then for myself. I have started a few companies (ActivateTV, PopBoardz and most recently Home Concierge)…and no, I do not write code… but knew enough that I could build out every experience in Photoshop and give it to my team of developers and they would make it come to life. Apple in Cupertino has been very supportive of my efforts – with App Store promotions and “extra” help whenever I needed it. It’s fun. It’s hard. And at some point, you learn to embrace the “journey”. It keeps you from going crazy – ha! So today, I keep my feet in the app world and continue with the movie studios when they need my marketing or producing help. Oh and the other thing that I do to keep me sane… I play music. I have played since I was a boy and have a group of guys who continue to get together to play and write in my home studio or occasionally play at fun clubs around town. Some are perplexed by my various endeavors and I always tell them, “it’s all the same brain”. It’s the fastidious attention to detail combined with rhythm and curiosity that makes up me.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
…Oh sure, it’s been so easy and effortless, I wake up everyday and something magical & amazing happens. If Only! War stories… we all have them. Fortunately, the memories of the tough days fade over time… for that I am thankful. People and politics go hand in hand and usually are the source of troubling situations. When things go wrong, it’s always easy to think it was because of someone or something else (but underneath, we are a part of the “challenge” for sure). Also, self-reflection and learning from your mistakes is an…. “acquired taste” (a flavor that I am ok with today). Here is the real kicker… mistakes are important to make. Run hard and fall flat on your face… I highly recommend it. I have learned to run around some problems but believe me… I still fall. But thankfully, it usually only breaks my face and not my spirit. Ha!

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Creative Problem Solver. I would say this is me. I am not a painter or an illustrator. My creativity comes out in music, graphics, filmmaking, posters, software design, marketing strategies and counseling friends! Graphic designer, Studio executive, Musician, Software entrepreneur… I am a guy who likes to make things. Proud of… accidentally wrote a song that became the finale of the Spaceship Earth ride at the Epcot Center in Florida. Wrote it with a coworker on a little Wurlitzer electric piano in my studio apartment. Both of us left the company and unbeknownst to us… someone found in my desk at Disney and scored it with an orchestra and a huge choir sang the lyrics. (no royalties… just a part of my job – darn!) I am prideful of the countless movie campaigns, people I have met and that still stay in contact with me and seeing my PopBoardz app, promoted by Apple, in the banner in the Apple App store (…just something I dreamt up one night.)

Also, weirdly proud… if you’ve ever seen the SNL video of Ryan Gosling complaining about the Avatar logo… well that was me! (I picked the font…. made it bold in Photoshop, etc. Ryan just doesn’t know the rest of the story. Many giggles when I tell people it’s me. If you buy me a drink, I can tell the whole story behind the logo and the movie – ha! …as a studio executive: convincing Annie Liebovitz (whom I had never met before) to photograph two people that she really didn’t want to. Power of Persuasion in the heat of the moment. I consider that “art” too. BTW, art is creativity and business combined – if you want to survive as a working “creative”. I always tell my friends “just because you are a great musician doesn’t mean you get to have a record contract”. There is another factor that needs to be present to make it all come together. Whatever “it” is…. it must be there too. Luck is always a part of any career equation. Grateful and appreciative of those who believe(d) in me.

Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
Be nice to everyone along the way (a. it’s easier. b. you never know who you have met that suddenly skyrockets their success.) Context. Always look at your art/projects in the final form it will be displayed. There is an unknown factor that can only be seen that way. Here is my crazy example: Designing outdoor billboards for movies. I would come up with a design that everyone has fallen in love with… but they’ve only seen it printed on an 11×17″ piece of paper. What I would do is actually have one of the billboard companies print my concept full size and put it on huge billboard up the street from the studio. Then… I would actually have the chairman of the film division in my car and we would drive up the street and pull into the center lane and park my car with traffic zooming by. Final changes or approvals would only happen after we saw the billboard… in context. Learn to wear the other person’s shoes. Think how they think and try to understand what their point of view might be. It will help you get final approvals every time. Listen. and ask questions.

Contact Info:

• Email: peterstougaard@me.com
• Website: homeconcierge.com
• Other: popboardz.com