Promoting Chicago

Navy Pier captured by Scott Terry

 
Born and raised in the city of Chicago, not far from the Cabrini-Green housing complex, I chose a college in Denver close to good skiing, studied advertising in Edinburgh, Scotland, and spent four months teaching English to business people in Tokyo. But Chicago has always called me back.

Marketing has been my focus since high school. Even teaching in Tokyo, with a limited amount of free time, I developed a freelance marketing project—researching the shredded cheese market in Japan for a U.S. cheese brand on behalf of a small Chicago promotions marketing agency.

Recently I’ve realized that my growing enthusiasm for photography / content creation and advertising create an incredible synergy with my interest in marketing.

When Instagram launched, it really fueled my passion for taking photos of our beautiful city. I started out shooting images with my iPhone and editing them with apps like Snapseed and Adobe Lightroom.

But last year, my wife and son bought me a Canon for Father’s Day.
 

I’m learning more every day about shooting in manual mode and it’s an exciting challenge, but I won’t call myself a photographer until I’ve really mastered it. (I have been published in national magazines and newspapers, though.)

For more than three years, I ran the @DDBChicago Instagram account, which allowed me to use my zeal for photography to promote DDB. Recently, I was asked to take over the @NavyPierChicago and @SkydeckChicago Instagram accounts, each for a day.

I almost feel as if I’m becoming a brand ambassador for Chicago. And my hope is that through my photos, I inspire people not only to visit Chicago but to move here. Maybe even to work in advertising.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Scott Terry is a production manager at DDB Chicago. His Instagram handle is @ScottTerry. Scott has been published in the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Senior Times and Time Out Chicago.