THE STREAM (OF CON·SCIOUS·NESS)

In June 1996, Paul graduated with a BS in Psychology from Tufts University and embarked on the open road ahead. He spent the next four years (1996-2000) working on the nomadic trail of feature filmmaking in NYC. During these days as a set decorator and propmaster, Roer racked up a few film credits to his name including Requiem for a Dream, Illuminata, and Storytelling.

 

The work tended to be seasonal so Paul filled the low season by meandering the map more often than not. By the time he completed his MFA in Creative Writing at NYU (2000-2002), Paul had traveled and lived in over 25 countries across North America, Europe and Asia.

 

While the filmmaking sharpened Paul’s aesthetic and hands-on creativity, The NYU Creative Writing Program put an edge to his language and storytelling techniques and he looked to apply both of them to a relevant and lucrative industry - Advertising.

 

Paul landed his first agency gig at a boutique UK to NYC shop, Michaelides and Bednash (2002-2005). The folks at M+B were radical poet warriors, set out to destroy the agency model and replace it with 21st century reality. Paul soaked it all in and came out of these journeyman years with a unique and unconventional approach to the marketing world.

 

A former colleague from M+B rang him one day and invited him over to check out Universal McCann (UM). They needed some fresh blood to start a marketing department and he was eventually called in. Over the course of the next nine years (2005-2014), Paul rose through the ranks from New Business Manager, Content Director to VP, Partner, Creative Director for the global agency. 

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UM taught Paul to play big agency politics as well as refine and apply his strategic and creative perspective across many stakeholders in the agency world. Furthermore, he created and established an inspired group of employees (The Zebras) whose focus was to drive participation in social impact programs in support of We.org.

 

It was Paul’s involvement in the Zebras and a nearly 13-year tenure in advertising that led him to his next phase. - social entrepreneurism. On his 40th birthday, he left UM to start Postcard.com as CEO and Founder and over the next three years (2014-2017), he built a B- Corp Certified social action platform from scratch, creating the brand, the technology, the business relationships and everything else in between.

 

Paul decided to return to his strategic roots and began a new role as Strategy Director at Initiative Media in 2017. At Initiative, he helped brands become culturally relevant, by applying thinking around behavioral psychology, semiotics, archetypes alongside a host of quantitative tools that get to the heart of what makes people tick to his roster of clients in QSR, tech, finance, retail, travel and more.

 

Missing the chance to exercise his creative muscles, Paul found his way back into film production and joined the Dentsu Aegis Network in December of 2018 to create content for the global network. Playing the role of Director of Content Production, he worked behind the camera and behind the screen shooting and editing mini-documentary style pieces for various stakeholders, including MarComms, HR, Growth and Strategy. 

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Then COVID happened and by September 2020, he moved away from Dentsu and into to figuring out countless backyard inventions to keep the kids engaged, leading a neighborhood organization to close and re-open a community park space safely, and by April 2021, back to agency life at Essence.

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At Essence (now EssenceMedicom/Media Futures Group), Paul has had his sleeves rolled up in the end-to-end process of creating bespoke custom content and media programs for Google, mostly with Pixel and YouTube. These complicated and ultimately compelling campaigns take a village to bring to life and Paul's involvement is inclusive of creative ideation, program development, deal point negotiation, production, and distribution.