David literally grew up in advertising and design. His father, H.J. Barnum Jr., M.D., was Executive Vice President at JWT in the '60s and '70s (real “madmen” days). David spent a lot of time hanging out in the corporate offices as a small boy and an early fascination with typography was reinforced by the large letterpress type mosaic in the JWT lobby that he took great glee in removing the B's from.
David entered the field in earnest at 18 when he began working at Barnum Communications, the pharmaceutical ad agency founded by his father. While studying Fine Art and Liberal Arts at Florida Southern College, he spent time as a production artist and designer for Nissan Advertising, a local affiliate of the Barnum Group of Agencies. Summers were spent at Barnum Communication’s headquarter in NYC. These early experiences formed David’s unique multi-disciplinary approach to design.
After graduating, David began full time work at Barnum Communications. He was determined not to be viewed as the S.O.B (son of boss) and made a point to stay in the trenches through every presentation crunch and late night meeting. He was also fortunate to have two superb mentors in Bill Vogt and Burt Pollack, both highly regarded creative directors. By age 27, David was handling advertising and print collateral Design for five DuPont Healthcare Divisions, and Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, GlaxoSmithKline and several other diagnostic and biotechnology companies.
David was also was an early adopter of the Macintosh platform, Photoshop and other design software. He successfully advocated and integrated these technologies into the agencies operations in 1988. Once established, the new computer based production company, Agatha Productions, became a significant profit center for the agency.
In recognition of his contributions to operations and profitability, David was elected to the board of both Agatha Productions and Barnum Communications.
With the untimely illness and eventual death of his father, David, with his sister, Liz, and step mother, Dr. Barbara Stevens-Barnum, became actively engaged in the day to day management of the agency. Like many agencies, the founder was the driving force behind the business. With Dr. Barnum’s death, the company had to endure high-level executive defections and a significant loss of business. David and his family successfully navigated these challenges by stabilizing core business relationships, recruiting new executive and creative talent and forging a leaner, more proactive corporate culture. These efforts led to the successful sale of the business in 1992.
Having been so specialized so early in his career, David felt a need to get more experience in consumer products and services and relocated to Miami to make a fresh start. While still keeping his toe in the world of medical and scientific marketing with work for AdTech Communications, a Miami based pharmaceutical agency, David began work as an independent contractor and technical consultant for several South Florida advertising agencies. The wide array of accounts handled by these regional agencies offered a unique opportunity to work with both large and smaller, more entrepreneurial companies. David worked on many national accounts including Alamo Rent A Car, Delta, American Express, Blockbuster and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Road Master Bicycles, NorWest Mortgage, NutriSystem and numerous entrepreneurial companies.
Over time, David was able to forge direct relationships with clients and started Barnum Design in 1995. Barnum Design keeps a focus on creative excellence in order to facilitate a media neutral approach to advertising and marketing. By focusing on a client’s unique attributes, Barnum Design is able to craft strategic branding assets that can be re-purposed and deployed across a wide variety of tactical programs, as either bits and bytes, or brick and mortar.
Today, Barnum Design’s primary studio is located in Irvington, NY just outside Manhattan. A core staff of 8 service over twenty accounts in consumer products, manufacturing, travel and technology. A hands-on manager, David is actively involved with all projects at Barnum Design providing creative leadership and strategic vision to the staff and network of affiliates. His unique collaborative approach to the creative process has been extremely successful in providing the firm’s clients with high quality communications in a wide variety of markets and media. The company continues to grow in a challenging economy by maintaining a lean, flat and open culture and delivering effective solutions to marketing challenges for small and mid-size companies.