Advertising runs in the blood with these six sets of agency siblings

That can mean being the subject of office jokes, having a confidant to bounce ideas off and, in the case of identical twins, having awkward conversations with strangers.

Jeff Curry and Chris Curry, executive creative directors at Ogilvy New York
These identical twins have been “best friends since the womb” — so much so that they both wound up becoming creative execs.

Chris leads the creative on Ogilvy’s UPS account; Jeff leads on the IBM account.

They tried to work together as a creative team but people got them them confused. They have also had awkward conversations with people they don’t recognize in elevators because they’ve been mistaken for the other.

These brothers not only look alike but also tend to agree on ideas. Still, their differences keep things from getting competitive: “We do our own thing; our leadership styles are different, too,” Jeff said.

Bryan Wiener, chairman at 360i, and Lauren Wiener, president of sales and marketing at Tremor Video

Bryan went into advertising before his older sister Lauren, who followed after consulting and a stint at MTV. “His enthusiasm was infectious,” she said.

The two have intentionally avoided doing business together, but they still bounce ideas off each other.

“There is so much zaniness in the business, and it’s fun to laugh about it with someone you can be vulnerable with,” Bryan said.

Brett Swanson, team development director at Firstborn, and Tyler Swanson, junior creative developer at Firstborn

Tyler decided to go into advertising after watching his older brother Brett toil away at Firstborn. Tyler joined him at the same agency in July.

“I was in high school when Brett first started working at Firstborn, and every time I toured it from then on, I thought it would be a good idea for me too,” said Tyler, who worked on two different teams as an intern before finding that his passion lay in coding.

The brothers’ similar taste in clothes has become a joke around the office. And Brett can now watch out for his younger brother.

“It’s nice to have him around to give him pointers and teach him from my mistakes,” said Brett.

Megan Jimenez, senior media planner at Mullen Lowe, and Gabe Jimenez, account executive at Mullen Lowe

This brother-sister duo from Chicago got their business acumen from their parents, which led them both to advertising. While Megan’s love for numbers drew her to the media side, Gabe had a passion for advertising.

“What drew me to advertising the most was that you work hard and you play hard,” said Gabe. “She worked hard, but it also seemed like she was having a lot of fun.”

They didn’t always get along growing up, but now, they don’t just work at the same agency, they live together. Still, there’s a healthy sense of competition in their relationship.

“It’s a nice support line if I ever have questions,” Gabe said. “But I don’t want to be too outdone by her, so I’ve her imbibed her work ethic.”

Arantza Urruchua, account executive at Y&R, and Fernando Urruchua, former account director at Y&R
Arantza and Fernando both started at Y&R as interns, joining the agency full-time in account management. Fernando is older and encouraged his

younger sister, Arantza, to try out advertising, too. While he has since moved over to the client side at New York Life, she remains at Y&R as an account executive for Xerox.

“Most siblings working in the same workplace would maintain some kind of distance in case it was perceived as preferential treatment, but Fernando was happy introducing me as his younger sister,” said Arantza. “He knows I’m the kind of person that works my butt off, and he had faith in me.”

Arantza is now engaged to Fernando’s best friend and fellow Y&R colleague, senior digital producer Bobby Jacques.

“I guess we’re a full-fledged advertising family now,” she said.

Jon Arnold, executive creative director at Bohan, and Mark Arnold, freelance creative director, art director and designer

Mark was always the artistic one in the family, and he found a way to make money from it, at TBWA\Chiat\Day. Younger brother Jon followed suit, dropping out of school to join him at the agency.

Mark acknowledged that dropping out of school was a risk. “But I knew the difference between a good win and a bad win and the difference it could make in a person’s career.”

A few years later, they both worked together on a new agency called Core. Jon said this was where he learned the craft.

“I never thought of myself as Jon’s mentor,” said Mark. “I could learn from him, and he could learn from me.”

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