Josh Barnes Email & Phone Number

Los Angeles, California, United States

Established in 1999 by Kevin McKiernan, Creative License is a one-of-a-kind global agency specializing in celebrity talent procurement, music supervision/licensing and intellectual property clearances for major brand advertisers and their partner agencies. Our unique engagement strategy provides brands and ad agencies with the most abundant set of creative choices possible while shaping the most favorable negotiation landscape possible. Creative License has specific expertise in consolidating, streamlining, measuring and leveraging brand marketers’ usage of entertainment properties across their marketing platforms to maximize cost and operational efficiencies. The leading independent consultancy in the marketing industry, Creative License has served as both the creative and strategic architects behind some of the most memorable and innovative talent and music partnerships between blue chip brands, their respective partner agencies and the entertainment world including recent efforts on behalf of Chevy, Pfizer, Tropicana, Purina, Cotton, Luxottica, Delta, Walmart and many others.

Los Angeles, California, United States

-Manage teams across Talent & Influencer, Film & TV, Leagues & Teams, Retail Licensing, Music Licensing, Strategy & Creative, Digital & Social & Analytics.-Inter-agency production and on-set staffing, collaboration & management across Clients, Creative, Production & Talent.Subway: -3.5+ years leading Subway business across dozens of TV & social campaigns including 75+ partnerships with celebrity athletes, social media influencers, and entertainment partnerships.-Brokered & managed multi-year marquee partnerships with Stephen Curry, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Serena Williams, Simone Biles & dozens of top-tier athletes. -Ideated & executed custom social/digital campaign w/ top-tier college football athletes as 1 of first major brand activations following the NCAA's NIL ruling.Axe:-Developed & driving Axe's multi-year Talent strategy to re-establish credibility, recruit new users into its funnel, and win back retailer relationships.-Developed multi-channel partnerships with rappers Lil Baby, Metro Boomin, & Coi Leray spanning TV, Social, Retail, OOH, and custom content.-Unseated competitors at retail for the first time ever across more than 4,000 stores nationwide.-Expanded client relationship globally, including multi-year Talent campaigns across LatAm and EMEA.7-Eleven:-Growing from one-off project to multiple cross-practice campaigns; driving 5x growth in fees w/in 6 months.-Co-leading film integration and promotional partnerships on confidential film projects (releasing 2025) with Marvel, Paramount, and Warner Brothers.-Leading 2 influencer campaigns with 20+ influencers to drive program awareness, in-store traffic, and app usage; leveraging internal paid media, analytics, talent & influencer, and others.-Leading talent negotiations with a Tier 1 band (confidential) for a marketing services and LTO products, with creative ideation & execution of experiential activation.Award-winning work:-2023 Silver Effie for Subway's "Refresh Year 2"

Los Angeles, California, United States

Award-winning work includes:-2022 Effie (Bronze) for Subway's "Eat Fresh Refresh"-2021 AdAge "10 Best" (Celebrity Ad Campaigns) for Subway's "Eat Fresh Refresh"

Los Angeles, California, United States

JCPenney: -Led JCPenney’s custom partnership with Disney's “Frozen 2” for a fully integrated campaign, built around a first-of-its-kind merchandise capsule collection, across in-store, custom TV commercials, O&O digital and social, and influencers.-Managed JCPenney's multi-year relationship with Shaquille O'Neal to develop creative programming, content, and social media rollouts as part of his retail merchandise, TV commercial, and social media collaboration.-Oversaw 3+ years of JCPenney's NBA and NFL Draft activations, including 12+ partnerships with Draftee athletes

Greater New York City Area

Axe:-Led re-branding campaign including development of marque, multi-year PR and Social Media campaigns-Drove the award-winning, social-purpose Axe “Senior Orientation” program from creative spark through full execution. Campaign included partnerships with John Legend, masculinity expert and author Carlos Andres Gomez, and NGOs Promundo and Ditch the Label, as well as three highly complex and sensitive experiential activations in partnership with local high schools.-Managed the Axe Collective mentorship program across music, film, fashion, and gaming, including a first-of-its-kind brand partnership with the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), and custom consumer, press, influencer events at SXSW, New York Fashion Week, and VidCon.-Led the AXE “You’re Gold” integrated campaign, executing Unilever’s largest influencer activation to date with 250+ influencers, 500+ pieces of original social content, and the brand’s first-ever Twitch stream.-Drafted or oversaw all press materials (media pitches, press releases, Q&As, issues- management scenario plans, reactive statement, etc.) for the brand for more than 4 years.Other:-Executed a purpose-driven program for Heineken with superstar DJ Armin Van Buren, as well as activities with Coachella and Ultra Music Festival.-Managed an integrated activation with tennis legend John McEnroe and the New York City Marathon for Dove Men+Care (Unilever)-Produced the creative insight that led to the highly successful, fully integrated Dove Men+Care “Caring Coaches” program.Award-winning work includes:- 2019 Shorty Award (Consumer Brands) for “AXE the LABEL” - 2018 Gold SABRE (Marketing to Men) for “AXE Find Your Magic Initiative” & “Senior Orientation”- 2018 Silver CLIO (Social Good) for “AXE Find Your Magic Initiative” & “Senior Orientation”- 2017 Gold SABRE (Integrated Marketing) for multi-year, multi-million-dollar AXE “Find Your Magic” rebranding and revitalization effort

New York, United States

San Francisco, California, United States

San Francisco, California, United States

Silicon Valley, California, United States

Silicon Valley, California, United States

Production assistant and also assistant to the director of operations for the Big Ten football and basketball production crews. Functioned as a liaison between production/operation crew and the University of Wisconsin's athletic department.