Mark Brown is a tough guy to spot. Between meeting with clients, briefing his developers, attending (or speaking at) tech conferences, sketching wireframe after wireframe and unleashing his own code onto the web, he moves from place to place like the Flash. If you’re lucky, you might be able to get him to take a breather and engage him in a conversation about the latest Star Wars trailer or Black Mirror episode over a quick cup of espresso (likely his third or fourth shot of the day.)
Mark has been working in the tech and digital sector since the 90s, and because of this, has witnessed a unique time in history. “Life was fundamentally different when we weren’t all connected,” he muses. Because, yes, there was a time before digital cell phones, broadband data networks and mass amounts of digital and video content. “We had to wait for the call. Wait to watch our favourite show. So we appreciate the luxury of the new technology even though we jumped on board so quickly. On the other hand, younger generations can’t even fathom (let alone remember) the time before the Internet fundamentally altered our way of life, so they expect to access any and all information and media instantaneously at the touch of a button.”
His stature as an early digital adopter allowed him to flourish in his career. The technology and digital aspects of Mark’s life soon crossed paths with the advertising world in the in the late 90s. He worked for an advertising company in Hong Kong where they represented an online ad inventory for thousands of regional websites and sold it to local and global advertisers. From then into the mid -2000s he was working out of Shanghai running a digital outsourcing company. But after 16 years overseas, Mark and his wife, Lily, felt compelled to return to the True North.
Mark was happy to settle back into his hometown of London, Ontario, “Many of the cities I’ve lived in (Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Shanghai) are so large that the individual is anonymous and the community feeling is essentially lost,” says Mark of his time overseas. “London is quite the opposite. Although it’s still a fairly large city by Canadian standards, there is a very strong sense of community and a feeling of responsibility to contribute back.”
Mark re-discovered his sense of community and a new career when Mary-Ellen and himself joined forces as Partners of adHOME Creative. “I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit and had been owning and managing companies since 1999. So upon returning to Canada, I was keen to identify a business where I could leverage my experience and skills, but again be in charge of my own destiny. I found that adHOME was a solid company with a great team and great clients, and being able to partner with Mary-Ellen was a fantastic fit.“
Quick Qs
What is your favourite Star Wars movie?
Empire Strikes Back
What gets you out of bed in the morning?
My 2 daughters, usually.
Netflix or Cable?
Cable? Is that still a thing? Plex & Kodi.
Print or Digital?
Save the rainforests. Digital.