we've ridden with the best of them.
500,623 ideas
343,153 scripts
120 pitches
83 brands
32 agencies
6 different career paths
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1 vision from everything we've learned along the way:
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Be honest. Be nice. Be simple. Be good. The bigger the trust tree, the better the creative. Don’t be too precious with an idea. Just think of the next one. Pay attention to what the kids are doing. In fact, be the kid. Sometimes you have to go to a big presentation without sleeping. Sometimes you have to call it a night before you kill each other. Always put in the time, but don’t ruin it by over-thinking. Love the people you work with.
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leigh masters
co-founder | creative x director | producer
Before starting Piggyback 3 years ago, Leigh worked in New York for 12 years at some of the most awarded agencies in advertising before moving to Colorado. She's lead creative for brands like Budweiser, Corona, Comedy Central, Carhartt, JCPenney, and Google to name a few.
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She's a midwesterner, born in Michigan raised on POP TARTS and Honey Nut Cheerios. She's an only child in a large family of 16 boy cousins, so needless to say she's a bit of a tom boy. She loves skiing, traveling to places that make her uncomfortable, video games, paddle boarding, golf, grilled cheese sandwiches, and Steve Winwood.
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The worst thing she's ever done is push her husband John (below) over in a completely clean, unused porter potty.
john angelopulos
co-founder | writer x director
Born and raised on the north shore of Boston, John may have lost some of his accent over the years, but he has had the great opportunity to shape some wicked pissah brands - Bud Light, Weber Grills, Brooklyn Nets, Corona, Carhartt and Vail
are some of big the ones.
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John grew up swimming in trash barrels filled with olives in the back of his grandfather's Greek catering company. Today, when he's not eating lamb, thinking of ideas and writing, he's up at 5:30am on his way to Vail to get more days on the mountain than his buddies.
This means you, Mike Fontenot.
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The worst thing he's ever done was at age six. At a church assembly, the priest asked a group of Sunday school kids, "who's Jesus Christ?" John raised his hand and explained, "Jesus Christ is when you walk into the ocean and it's really cold and you say, 'Jesus Christ the water's cold."
liz graves
lead producer
Liz has a gift for combining creative vision with the technical and managerial skills to pull it off. Her keen eye and innovative skills has earned her some industry’s top awards, including the prestigious D&AD, multiple Clios, and the 2012 “Grand Prix” Award at Cannes Intl. Advertising Festival.
She has worked on many clients including Coca Cola, Levi’s, Verizon, Chipotle, Target, Revlon, Fox Sports, Guinness, Southwest Airlines, and many more. She works with blue chip corporations and promising start-ups alike, with projects ranging from $10,000 to multimillion dollar campaigns.
natalie hill
executive producer, fanciful films
Natalie has a strong reputation in commercials, continuing to produce campaigns for: Coca Cola, Mercedes, Pepsi, Heineken, Levis, Dickies, Wrigleys, LG, Lexus, Volkswagen, GE, Jim Beam, and Smirnoff among many others.
She has many accolades beginning with the start of her career working as a music video producer with Easy E and NWA, then onto film career as production manager on the award-winning documentary, Paris is Burning. In 2007, Natalie’s team won the DGA for Coca Cola, Traveler’s Insurance and Johnny Walker. In 2012, Natalie Executive Produced the feature film Arthur
Newman, starring Colin Firth and Emily Blunt.
She has extensive international production experience in countries
such as Argentina, Australia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, India, New Zealand, Spain, South Africa, Thailand, and the United Kingdom so can pretty much get things done anywhere.
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Natalie is a native of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago,
and a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of Arts.
meet the family
Trent Lyle
Ryan Hoelting
Andrei Chahine
B i z D i r e c t o r | P r o d u c e r
A product of the south, Trent moved to the big apple to kick off his career and has spent the last decade creating awesome work with Jameson Whiskey, PUMA, Bud Light, ACLU, FedEx & PepsiCo.
Although traditionally running client accounts, Trent has also found success producing short films and boutique music festivals.
Trent is taking his talents out West to Denver in a rigged up 1978 airstream. While he can't wait to meet you
in-person, he's perfectly happy taking the next zoom call in a national park.
The worst thing he’s ever done was back in high school he "borrowed" his Dad's blue lights and decided to pull over some buddies. Even though the victims could barely make out the outline of his minivan, the flashing lights were enough to get them to comply.
D e s i g n D i r e c t o r | Y o d a
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If you don't mess with Texas, then you definitely don't mess with Ryan's eye for design.
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Over a decade ago, when he was done selling posters and following bands around, his parents, Floyd and Joellen, told him to get his act together. They really had no idea that he'd turn out this good. 5 Cannes Lions later, his work speaks for itself.
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The only thing Ryan knows better than Adobe Illustrator is how to strike up great conversations with strangers. Seriously, he's the best.
Organic + Paid Social Media Creative Strategist
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Andrei used to live in places like Abu Dhabi, Denver, London, Switzerland, and Wisconsin. Andrei also used to play keys for famous hip-hop and R&B famous people. Now Andrei does none of those things. Or, he still plays piano, but for his kids, and they’re not impressed.
As a Chicago & NYC Creative Director, Andrei led strategy and creative for brands like the NFL, Budweiser, Samsung, and Wrigley/Mars. And as VP of Brand Creative at MTV, he brought his holistic marketing skills to modernize creative operations and win a few shiny things in the process.
And most recently as Creative Shop Lead at Facebook/Instagram, he developed data-driven strategies, social media creative best practices, platform innovation, and learning methodologies to help brands achieve big business objectives, like launching Disney+ to the tune of millions of subscribers or collapsing the funnel for Purple Mattress to drive big comfy sales (and still build a brand that sticks).
Worst thing he’s ever done and continues to do is sit in the back row of the movie theater and eat loud food. Crinkly burger wrappers. Peppercorn encrusted salmon. Etc.
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Bryon Friedman
Sean Deveaux
S E O G U R U | Musician | Producer
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Raised in the silicon slopes of Park City, Utah, Bryon spent most of his time in a skin tight suit training to become an American Downhiller. When ski racing at 90mph became too monotonous, he decided he wanted to work in a more creative field.
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His current favorite band is Vulfpeck (Joe Dart rules). He loves outdoor anything especially if it involves adrenaline and expensive apparati. And he’s constantly taste testing for the perfect chocolate chip cookies.
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Post skiing Bryon started writing songs, producing records, and scoring inspirational films for the brand Carhartt. He currently plays and writes with former Allman Brothers Keyboardist, Johnny Neel.
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The worst thing he’s ever done is memorize the wrong Haftorah (a one hour prayer) for his Bar-Mitzvah. Realizing the mistake weeks before he was to become a man, Bryon pre-manned up, and memorized the right one.
P r o d u c e r | Art Department | Pizza
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After delivering a baby as a fireman in Northern California by the age of 23, Sean decided to take his talents to the City of Angels and try his fortune in acting. A few months after his arrival he landed a scholarship at the Howard Fine Acting Studio. Following his acting career, Sean quickly transitioned into a producer focusing on television, films and commercials. His film and television credits are: 2nd AD on DOPE, The Best Thanksgiving Ever, John Rambo, 16 Blocks and commercial brands: Weber, NFL, Gamefly, Sunsilk to name a few.
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When Sean isn’t creating content he likes to spend his free time traveling, designing, hiking, skiing, trying new restaurants and making his one of kind pizzas at LBK Pizza LA.
services we offer​
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Every piggyback ride is different, and we're a one stop shop for any race.
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01. brand identity
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Whether your brand is just about to be born or going through a mid-life crisis, we’ll figure out what it stands for at the core. Its voice, look and feel, what it eats for breakfast, why it loves lightning storms, why it hates 3D movies.
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02. brand campaigns
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There’s nothing we love more than a big-old insightful concept with the kind of legs that can take a campaign everywhere. On social, TV, OOH, digital, experiential - all wrapped up in a perfectly tied bow of one human truth.
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03. social
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Social is fast. For brands that can keep up, social is great. For the ones that can’t, social is blah. Let’s be honest, having a brand pop-up in your feed isn’t exactly fireworks. So in this media, if we can give people a quick chuckle with some entertaining content that plays off what’s happening in culture at this very moment, then we win.
04. content production
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We've done big-budget Super Bowl spots. We done scrappiest of the scrappy for local start-ups. In today's media landscape, you can never have enough content. That's why we like to take one pig and make as much bacon as possible. We're a mix of writers, producers, and directors with the experience and hustle to deliver more than brands are used to getting. Everything from TV, online videos, social and digital- all from one production.