Todd Moritz Believes in Substance.

Todd Moritz joins Substance on August 1, 2007 as Partner and COO, bringing his experience and talent to help grow the company into a world class digital brand consultancy and design studio. Having worked with Stephen Landau and David Lowe-Rogstad on various projects over the years it was clear there was an opportunity to do something truly unique in the digital space. “I feel like we’re kindred spirits in a lot of ways,” Todd remarked about the partnership. “I’ve always said that when I find the right people to team up with and help build something that can be truly special that I’d do it, and here we are.”

“Of course we couldn’t be more excited about the level of professionalism and operational knowledge Todd is bringing to Substance. Stephen and I set out to build the best digital creative agency in the world; Todd’s partnership will continue to drive us closer to that goal,” said David Lowe-Rogstad, co-founder of Substance. Stephen Landau, the other co-founder, added, “We’re thrilled that Todd is now on this journey with us. He believes deeply in our mission to create great digital brand experiences, and do it better than anyone else. That’s the attitude we’re looking for.”

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Todd talking about himself in the third person…

Todd brings with him over 18 years of experience producing interactive media. Having been on development teams for the Phillips CD-i platform in the early 1990′s to producing some of the very first consumer driven web experiences, Todd has been part of the evolution of the web as we know it nearly from its’ inception.

“Back then nobody really knew what they were doing in terms of reaching consumers, so we had to invent new ways to bring ideas to life,” he says about producing the original Levi.com in 1995, “We were pioneers, mavericks. It was an incredibly exciting time to get involved in this largely unknown medium and an amazing learning experience.”

That learning is something that Todd tries to reflect on regularly. “In 1996 everyone was talking about community being the next big thing, so there was this sudden movement to try and understand the ramifications of this shift in thinking. Ultimately the tools weren’t really there to enable that vision, but the other concern was that companies really weren’t ready to have an open dialog with their customers. What we’re experiencing now is just the inertia of a movement that’s been happening for over a decade.”

Todd got his start in broadcast television production in the Philadelphia area. That experience led to the opportunity to work with early interactive technologies, leading to a position with Foote, Cone & Belding in San Francisco managing their web development team and their development partner, Organic. “Those were good days. You had the guys who developed the Apache web server working on your project. You had people who are now on the cover of Time Magazine freelancing for you. You had this guy Craig that you’d never met running a web site about things to do around town. But everybody was along for the same ride, so there was a common thread running through everyone.”

Working with various agencies around town on brands including Levi’s, Snapple, Nike, and Cisco, Todd eventually joined Organic as an Executive Producer and Group Director in 1999, overseeing production of marketing efforts for Sprint, Washington Mutual, Gap Inc, and a long string of dot com startups. Riding out the bubble as well as the burst, Todd relocated to Portland, Oregon in 2001 with his wife, Paola and dog, Basil. In Portland, Todd served in various management positions, eventually joining internationally acclaimed advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy in 2005.

“That was one of the most profoundly eye opening and rewarding experiences of my career,” Todd says of his time at Wieden. For two years he led the agency’s digital efforts on their flagship Nike account, helping to translate and transform traditional advertising campaigns to the online space. Todd was instrumental in re-establishing a digital capability for the agency. In the two years while he was there the agency produced a multitude of award-winning traditional and non-traditional digital projects for clients like Nike, Starbucks, Old Spice, Google and Coke, among others.

“It’s amazing to me to see that big brands are still struggling with this idea of having direct conversations with their customers,” Todd remarks. “At some point you just have to be open to the idea that people have something to say and they’re going to say it whether you want to hear it or not. Customers now have the tools at their disposal to come together and speak their minds, so it’s time for brands to spend more time listening to what those customers have to say. They can do better. We can all do better, and that doesn’t have to be a scary thing. It’s all part of a wonderfully evolutionary process.”

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Todd, welcome to Substance. We believe in you.

p.s. Todd rocks. Adding Todd to our already stellar line-up is going to kick ass at next year’s Battle of the Bands.