Kirk Citron

A brief bio.

I graduated from Harvard in 1977.

Started in advertising at Ogilvy & Mather in New York. Wrote commercials for Mercedes-Benz, Maxwell House, and AT&T, and worked with John Cleese and Bernadette Peters for American Express.

Moved to Seattle for ten months at Chiat/Day. It rained a lot.

Moved to San Francisco. At Hal Riney & Partners, I worked on Gallo, E.F. Hutton, and wrote the theme line for Saturn automobiles: "A different kind of company. A different kind of car."

Started my own agency in 1990. Citron Haligman Bedecarré worked for Sony, PowerBar, Palm, Dreyfus, Gallo, The Gap, and more. Named Adweek's West Agency of the Year;  it was the fastest growing agency in the country in 1999 and 2000.  

I helped turn the company into a digital agency, raised venture capital to buy offices around the world, and changed the name to AKQA.

Now I consult, speak, and write. Clients have included Salesforce, Mercedes-Benz, Mondavi Wines, and non-profits including Common Sense Media, Whistlestop, The Knights of St. Francis, MoAD (The Museum of the African Diaspora), The Tides Foundation, The Foundation for the Future, The Long Now Foundation, and The California Film Institute.