Outdoor advertising is a natural for Barry

Steve Barry relaxes during a recent hiking and camping trip in Glacier National Park

That Steve Barry ('98) is the account executive for the Saturn VUE sport utility vehicle is more than a little fitting. He's an all-terrain kind of guy.

His favorite thing to do away from the office: wakeboarding at Shasta Lake, the largest reservoir in California, in the summer and snowboarding at Tahoe in the winter.

Things about Boulder he remembers most fondly: "Being close to snowboarding, and having the mountains in your back yard."

Actually, Barry, 26, who works for Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco, said he misses "everything about Boulder and CU," from Illegal Pete's burritos to beers at the Sink.

"I chose CU-Boulder because I had grown up in Redding, Calif., and felt like I needed to get somewhat far away from my hometown. I visited Boulder and was blown away. It's just a great school in an amazing area," he said.

In Boulder, he initially immersed himself in studying theater. He said the acting and performance classes moved him toward his true academic calling.

"With advertising, I found a good balance between creativity and business. I like the entertainment side of advertising. Getting consumers' attention by hitting on their emotions was an interesting aspect for me.

"I knew throughout the program that my appreciation for advertising was in the creativity of the work. The creative sequence instructors were a great resource. Having classes with Don Poole and Walt Perls really convinced me that good work had to be compelling. And Brett Robbs was a great adviser who helped me learn a lot about what it took to get ahead in the business. I realized I didn't want to work for an ad agency that seemed corporate. I didn't want to do ads about bleach saying things like, œGet your whites whiter.'

"We had studied some of the work that Crispin, Porter + Bogusky did for Shimano (bicycle components), and in the spring of my senior year they were calling Brett, looking to fill entry-level account service positions. They were in Miami, but it was worth the jump to live there and work for the best up-and-coming shop in the country."

He said the year he spent as an assistant account executive there was invaluable.

"It was an incredible opportunity because I worked on a lot of very cool products like Shimano, GT Bikes, Merrell Hiking Boots, CAT Footwear and AND1 Basketball."

After a year in Miami, he decided he wanted to get back to California.

"It was tough leaving CP+B because there were so many amazing people that I got to work with, and they had taught me so much. Looking for something similar yet bigger, hands down, the only place to go was Goodby, Silverstein & Partners.

"When I came into GSP to interview, I had campaigns I had worked on running in quite a few magazines, and I could just show whoever was interviewing me a Rolling Stone that was lying in their office and then talk about how we got to that ad."

At Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Barry's other clients have included Goodyear Tires, TiVo and Crystal Cruises. But he said he learned that with big-name accounts comes big-time stress.

"The hardest part of the job can be a combination of things, including the number of hours I work, tight deadlines and coping with clients who may not always agree with or understand what you are trying to do for them and what that takes.

"But the most fun things about the job help balance you out. The people here at GSP and the work we end up with have a lot to do with why you get up in the morning and go to work."

stephen_barry@gspsf.com