Oran Parker is the Creative Services Director and all-around fall guy for Sweet Spot Telemedia in Sulphur, Louisiana, where he has to think on his feet and use his creative juice to crank out the goods. He recently served as the Creative Director for O'Carroll Group in Lake Charles, Louisiana, as well as Vice President of the American Advertising Federation's Lake Charles, Louisiana chapter, pulling triple duty as the club's Program Chair and 2009 ADDY® Awards Chair.

His professional path began with a low-level position at a small, Lake Charles sign company, which has led him through the winding road of the creative industries and given him a nuts-and-bolts understanding of the way things work and an in-the-trenches perspective on advertising in general. From sign shop owner/operator, print shop employee, salesman and graphic designer to "web guy,"—Oran has sweat and bled for the practical, working-experience he has today.

He believes that momentum can only build once you get things moving, and a lack of decisive, focused action is the best way to send a project in the wrong direction and shoot it straight to hell. He believes strongly in group-brainstorming, mind-mapping, playing with toys, reading comic books, watching weirdo sci-fi flicks, sketching, doodling and think, think, THINKING through a project's pros and cons right from the get go (because waiting is "the devil", don't ya know).

"Creating great, effective advertising," he says, "means stepping into the mind of the audience, putting their shoes on, eating what they eat, standing in the same lines they stand in, watching the shows they watch...heck, man...you've gotta catch their cold. You really have to try your best to get outside of yourself and become an objective observer—all while participating—seeing the world through the consumers' eyes, right inside their likes & dislikes, their needs & desires. You have to be part artist, part carpenter, part writer, part fool, part sage, part psychologist...and almost 100% creative problem solver."

His "holy cow", personal motto—"Don't wait! when you don't know what to do to get started,...just do something."