About Me

The son of a Wisconsin high school football coach, Mike Jurkovac founded cYclops in 1994 with Liz and Albert Watson. From its inception he has guided the company's blue-chip roster of creative resources and strategic partners against the integrated THOUGHT , FILM + BEYOND platform he authored while leading the Levi's Brand as Foote, Cone & Belding's first VP, Director of Integration. Driven by the mantra of "creative excellence with no tolerance for mediocrity" espoused by FCB’s late and legendary creative director, Mike Koelker, Mike has used his "make it happen" attitude to produce an astonishing body of work under the cYclops banner—well over $250 million in commercial, short film and integrated content production in its first ten years in business. Despite all the impressions Mike has scored for the many brands he’s worked on, none have been as important as the work he did last year for brand Obama—his collaboration with director Jesse Dylan and pop superstar will.i.am to produce the viral video sensations “Yes We Can ” and “We Are The Ones ” in support of the candidacy of Barack Obama. The videos won an Emmy Award and were viewed by 40 million people around the world. More importantly, they were effective—the clips motivated people as no other messaging did to get involved and play an active part in what has become the most significant transformation of American society in the past century. Posted to will.i.am’s web site, www.dipdive.com , they starred celebrities and artists like John Legend, Jessica Alba and Scarlett Johansson, and spawned dozens of online parodies. This level of engagement lead to the development of a companion site, www.hopeactchange.com , where people were able to upload their own pictures and videos expressing their attitudes about the election. Mike and his cYclops team have not stopped there. They’ve employed their THOUGHT, FILM + BEYOND approach to produce a new series debuting soon on the cable channel BET, as well as FREESTYLE GAMES, a branded content hip-hop dance competition that will travel the world. Other notable projects Mike has executive produced include Instant Def, a $7 million-plus branded content initiative for Snickers/ Masterfoods. The Wall Street Journal called this brand integration and merchandising program “groundbreaking,” and in many ways it was—a collaborative effort between Masterfoods, BBDO, The Black Eyed Peas (who starred in a Snickers short film series), Interscope Records, cYclops and director Jesse Dylan and his company, FORM. Mike was an early adopter of the integrated branded content that came to be known as Madison & Vine. In 2001 he partnered with top agency creative directors CHUCK MCBRIDE, RICK BOYKO and ERNEST LUPINACCI to create the LOST BUT NOT LOST and LOST CHANGE serialized short film, print, online and offline adventures -- which united the Levi\\\'s, Motorola and Sony brands and their agencies—TBWAChiat Day, O&M and Y&R—with MTV, IFC, AtomFilms and $25 million worth of shared financing. This program was the catalyst for the creation, repositioning and execution of BMG's ground-breaking ELV1S brand integrated content, Mobile Graceland and ELV1S: 30 #1 HITS programs which have currently delivered international sales of over 10,000,000 units. Mike was also responsible for the MustB21® Soundtrack, which partnered Coors and FCB (now Draft/FCB) with Grammy-winning artists and producers like will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas and John Legend. Prior to founding cYclops in 1994, Mike was VP, Director of Integration at FCB/ SF, where he managed the Levi’s brand, including development of integrated campaigns for 501® and Loose Jeans, and oversaw the launch of the silverTab® and L2® brands targeted at the urban market. At cYclops Mike has executive produced over 700 TV commercials, including a series of recent campaigns which featured top CEOs Michael Dell, Howard Sherman, Jeff Bezos, Larry Probst, Steve Balmer and Martin Sorrell talking about the role of the NASDAQ marketplace. In 1994, Mike created the award-winning “THERE'S A MOVEMENT UNDERGROUND ” outdoor campaign for Gannett.

My Favorite Quote: yes, we can.

My Information

My Education: masters in art, business & journalism

My Website: http://cYclopsNYC.com

You can also find me here:

My Interests

My Interests: film music getting your good on taking the high road

My Inspiration: Never quit.

My Favourite Labels: Y3, Prada, Levi's

My Heroes: martin luther king

My Favourite Music: Linkin Park, Black Eyed Peas, Dave Matthews Band